English translation of Oh ! Mon amour

by Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Oh ! Mon amour", op. 40 no. 2, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, no. 2, London, Augener
    Score: IMSLP [external link]

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

Oh ! mon amour, pourquoi, quand nous sommes ensemble,
Délicieusement, ai-je le cœur qui tremble ?...
Comme lui, la mer tremble au coucher du soleil,
Et la forêt, sous l'aube aimante, à son éveil.

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Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 25.

Note: in Moret's sung text, the lines are followed by "La mélodie aimante et calme de la nuit/ S'écoule sur la ville apaisée." These lines come from the quatrain that begins "La mélodie aimante et calme de la nuit".

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: Johann Winkler 
Les lignes de ton corps sont comme une musique,
Tout ton être, tes bras, tes seins délicieux
Créent des rythmes parfaits pour mon âme extatique ;
Et je les goûte avec des larmes dans les yeux.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 26.

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]
Ta beauté, quand tu pars, me laisse comme un chant,
Dont la tendre douceur tout entier me pénètre ;
Et mon âme s'emplit de soupirs l'étouffant,
Et ce chant merveilleux fait trembler tout mon être.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1896, page 30.

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)
Oh! my love, why, when we are together, 
Delightfully, do I find my heart trembling? 
Like it, the sea trembles at the setting of the sun, 
And the forest, under the loving dawn, at its rising.

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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The lines of your body are like music,
All your being, your arms, your delicious breasts,
Create perfect rhythms for my ecstatic soul;
And I taste them with tears in my eyes.

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: 

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Your beauty, when you depart, leaves me like a song
Whose tender sweetness penetrates me through;
And my soul is filled with suffocating sighs,
And that wonderful song makes my whole being tremble.

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