Ma pensée est sereine et rêve parfumée,
Comme la chambre heureuse où dort la bien-aimée.

Large fleur au cœur blanc qui parfume la nuit,
La lune sur l'étang du ciel s'épanouit.

Ma pensée est sereine et rêve caressée
D'une odeur de santal que tes bras m'ont laissée.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1906, page 90.

Note for stanza 3: over the years, Cazalis changed the source of the odeur de santal ("odor of sandalwood") mentioned in this stanza. In the 1875 edition of L'Illusion, it was tes seins ("your breasts"). In the 1888 edition it was ta chair ("your flesh"), and by 1897 it was tes bras ("your arms"), which is how it remained in subsequent editions.

Text Authorship:

• by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, in Nocturnes, no. 2, first published 1875 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by René-Emmanuel Baton (1879 - 1940), as Rhené-Baton, "Nocturne", op. 16 no. 2 (1911), published 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq mélodies sur des poèmes de Jean Lahor, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Paul Lacombe (1837 - 1927), "Nocturne", published 1913 [ voice and piano ], in Album Musica No.134, Paris: Pierre Lafitte [sung text not yet checked]
• by Sylvio Lazzari (1857 - 1944), "Langueur nocturne", 1929, published 1930 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Nocturne", published 1901 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes du silence - vibrations musicales - 1ère série, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Joseph Béesau (1871 - 1940), "Nocturne", published 1920 [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Senart
  • View the full text. [sung text not yet checked]
    

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

• ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Paul Hindemith

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-17
Line count: 6
Word count: 47

My thoughts are serenely dreaming, perfumed 
Like the fortunate room where my beloved sleeps.

Wide white-hearted flower that perfumes the night,
The moon blossoms on the pool of the sky.

My thoughts are serenely dreaming, caressed
By an odor of sandalwood that your arms have left me.