Eyes | Great blue eyes, unsettling sky where dreams are lost

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Les Yeux

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Grands yeux bleus, ciel troublant où se perdent les songes,
Sombres yeux, gouffres noirs dont le mystère attire,
Doux yeux couleur de mer, océans de [mensonges]¹,
Beaux yeux roux, semé d'or, au glorieux empire,

Doux yeux rêveurs, jetant [soudain des éclairs tristes]²,
Beaux yeux étincelants, où rit tant de lumière,
Grands yeux tendres, pareils aux tendres améthystes,
Chers yeux, las, alanguis, mi-clos sous [leur paupière]³,

Larges yeux rappelant les opales mystiques...
Féminin éternel, j'aime tes yeux sans nombre,
Et je dédaigne, épris des astres magnifiques,
Les pièges ténébreux que tu dresses dans l'ombre !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• D. Fleuret

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1897, Page 93

¹ Fleuret: "mensonge"
² Fleuret: "parfois des éclairs d'or"
³ Fleuret: "leurs paupières"

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Les Yeux", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, 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 Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Les Yeux", published 1912 [ high voice and piano ], from L'Illusion, poème en neuf chants de Jean Lahor, no. 8, Lyon, Éd. Janin Frères [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Eyes", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 99

Eyes

Language: English after the French (Français)

Great blue eyes, unsettling sky where dreams are lost,
Dark eyes, black gulfs whose mystery entices,
Soft eyes the color of the sea, oceans of lies,
Lovely hazel eyes, sown with gold, of glorious dominion,

Soft dreamy eyes, throwing off [sudden sad flashes]¹,
Lovely sparkling eyes, where so much light laughs,
Great tender eyes, like tender amethysts,
Dear eyes, weary, languid, half-closed beneath their lids,
 
Wide eyes recalling mystic opals ...
Eternal feminine, I love your eyes without number,
And I disregard, in love as I am with the magnificent stars,
The obscure traps that you lay in the shadows.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Fleuret: "occasional flashes of gold"

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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Les Yeux", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-06-01
Line count: 12
Word count: 101