English translation of Le grand jardin d'azur

by Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Le grand jardin d'azur", op. 40 no. 1, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, no. 1, London, Augener
    Score: IMSLP [external link]

Note: this is a translation of one multi-text setting.

Le grand jardin d'azur, la nuit, va se rouvrir ;
Mon amour, allons voir loin de la foule humaine 
Venir à nous la Lune en sa robe de reine, 
Et dans ce jardin bleu les étoiles fleurir.
Viens ô bien-aimée, viens !

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Confirmed with Jean Lahor, Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1896, page 19.

Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.


Researcher for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] 
Mon âme en toi veut fuir le monde détesté. 
Hors de ce monde impur elle veut pour asiles 
Tes grands yeux verts, frais et fleuris comme des îles, 
Et mon refuge aimant sera ta pureté.

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Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 36.

Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Je voudrais t’emporter dans une solitude 
Où fleurirait ton corps seulement pour mes yeux ; 
Et pouvoir y goûter cette béatitude 
De ne plus voir que toi, des forêts et les cieux.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 36.

Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Author(s): Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909)
The great azure garden at night will open again;
My love, let us go and see, far from the human throng,
The Moon coming to us in her queenly robes,
And the stars blossoming in that garden of blue.
Come, O beloved, come!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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My soul wants to flee in you the hated world.
Beyond this sullied world it seeks the asylum
Of your large green eyes, fresh and aflower like islands,
And my loving refuge will be your purity.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

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I long to carry you away into a solitude 
Where your body would blossom for my eyes alone;
And to be able there to taste that bliss
Of no longer seeing anything but you, the forests and the skes.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: 

Based on:

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Translation © by Grant Hicks