My soul wants to flee in you the hated world

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Mon âme en toi veut fuir le monde...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

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Mon âme en toi veut fuir le monde détesté. 
Hors de ce monde impur elle veut pour asiles 
Tes grands yeux verts, frais et fleuris comme des îles, 
Et mon refuge aimant sera ta pureté.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• B. Fairchild

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 36.

Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 49 [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):

[ None yet in the database ]

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

by Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Le grand jardin d'azur", op. 40 no. 1, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, no. 1, London, Augener
Score: IMSLP [external link]
- View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-05-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 35

My soul wants to flee in you the hated...

Language: English after the French (Français)

Choose for Diff

My soul wants to flee in you the hated world.
Beyond this sullied world it seeks the asylum
Of your large green eyes, fresh and aflower like islands,
And my loving refuge will be your purity.

About the headline (FAQ)

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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 49
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-08-27
Line count: 4
Word count: 36