by Joseph Charles Mardrus (1868 - 1949)
Translation by Edward Powys Mathers (1892 - 1939)
I could not keep love down
Language: English after the French (Français)
I could not keep love down; He rose and pinned my sleepy eyes awake. He crept into my voice, and made it break, My heart, and made it ache. I could not keep love down; He rose and lighted fires within my brain, And all the waters of the world are vain To put them out again.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume I, edited by Joseph Charles Mardrus, Edward Powys Mathers, 1986, in Tale of the Fisherman and Jinni continued, page 41, preceded by "He heard these lines sung in a sweet whisper: ".
Text Authorship:
- by Edward Powys Mathers (1892 - 1939), no title, written 1923 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Joseph Charles Mardrus (1868 - 1949), appears in Les Mille et Une Nuits, first published 1898-1904 [text unavailable]
Based on:
- a text in Arabic (العربية) from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , appears in One Thousand and One Nights = أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Bartlett (b. 1949), "I Could Not Keep Love Down", 1973 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: John Bartlett
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 58