English translation of Heure pâle

by Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Heure pâle", op. 40 no. 7, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, no. 7, London, Augener
    Score: IMSLP [external link]

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

Quand le vent fait pleurer les flûtes des roseaux,
Que dans l'air froid du soir taisent les oiseaux,
Quand tombent le silence et l'ombre sur la plaine,
Ô mon âme, pourquoi ta tristesse soudaine ?

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Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 38.

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 
Heure pâle où se meurt tout bruit !
Le monde est comme une féerie.
La robe noire de la nuit
Par le clair de lune est fleurie.

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1896, page 16.

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 rêve d'un amour étrange et sans pareil,
Fait d'adoration très tendre un peu mystique,
Presque semblable à des caresses de musique ;
Je rêve d'un amour, qui n'ait pas de réveil.

Text Authorship:

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Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 18.

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)
When the wind makes the flutes of the reeds weep,
When the birds fall silent in the chill of evening,
When silence and shadow fall over the plain,
O my soul, why your sudden sadness?

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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Pale hour when all sound dies!
The world is like a fairyland.
The black mantle of the night
The moonlight adorns with flowers.

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 dream of a love strange and without equal,
Made of tenderest adoration, a bit mystical,
Almost like music's caresses;
I dream of a love from which there is no waking.

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