Your great soft eyes seem like islands

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by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Sérénade mélancolique

(Sung text for setting by R. Baton)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG ENG

Tes grands yeux doux semblent des îles 
Qui nagent dans un lac d'azur :
Sous la paix de tes yeux tranquilles,
Fais-moi tranquille et fais-moi pur.

Ton corps a l'adorable enfance 
Des clairs paradis de jadis :
Enveloppe-moi de silence,
De ton corps blanc comme les lys.

Je souffre, j'étouffe, je pleure;
Fais de ton corps, fais de tes bras
Afin que je m'y perde et meure
Un tombeau que tu m'ouvriras.

Composition:

René-Emmanuel Baton

Cinq mélodies sur des poèmes de Jean Lahor

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Sérénade mélancolique", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Manuel Capdevila i Font) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Paul Hindemith) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 75

Melancholy Serenade

(Sung text translation for setting by R. Baton)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Your great soft eyes seem like islands
Swimming in a lake of azure:
Under the peace of your calm eyes,
Make me calm and make me pure.

Your body has the lovable youth
Of the bright paradises of yesteryear:
Envelop me with silence,
With your body pale as a lily.

I suffer, I suffocate, I weep;
Make of your body, make of your arms,
So that there I may lose myself and die,
A tomb that you open wide for me.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Sérénade mélancolique", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort
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This text was added to the website: 2025-08-30
Line count: 12
Word count: 84