Confidence | Let suitors lurk around my beloved

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

La confiance

Language: French (Français) after the Arabic (العربية)

Our translations: ENG

Laissez rôder les amoureux autour de ma bien-aimée...
Pouvez-vous empêcher les mouches de voler autour d'un gâteau de miel ?

Laissez rôder les amoureux, mais engagez-les 
à faire construire leur tombeau, 
car aucun remède ne guérit les blessures que font les yeux de Yamina.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, Paris : H. Piazza, 1919, p.115

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La confiance", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 119, Paris, Éd. Piazza [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Arabic (العربية) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

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

by Jacqueline Despas (1893 - 1968), "La confiance", published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes Arabes, no. 16, Paris, Éd. Jobert [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Confidence", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2024-11-13
Line count: 5
Word count: 43

Confidence

Language: English after the French (Français)

Let suitors lurk around my beloved ... 
Could you prevent flies from swarming around a honey-cake? 

Let suitors lurk, but urge them
to have their tombs built, 
for no remedy can cure the wounds inflicted by Yamina's 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La confiance", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 119, Paris, Éd. Piazza
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Arabic (العربية) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-27
Line count: 5
Word count: 37