Response | You reproach me for not loving you

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Réponse

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

Our translations: ENG

Tu me reproches de ne pas t'aimer... 
Trouverais-je mes roses plus parfumées, 
si mes yeux se remplissaient de larmes chaque fois que je les respire ?
Seraient-elles plus éclatantes, 
si je ne pouvais les cueillir sans leur réciter des poèmes ? 
La pluie demande-t-elle à la terre de frissonner d'amour, 
et la lune demande-t-elle au désert
de la récompenser d'éclairer son étendue ?

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, L'édition d'Art H. Piazza, p.22

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Réponse", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 17, 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), "Réponse", published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes Arabes, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
by Jean Gallon (1878 - 1959), "Réponse", published 1939 [ voice and piano ], Paris : R. Deiss [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Response", 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: 2023-05-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 60

Response

Language: English after the French (Français)

You reproach me for not loving you... 
Would I find my roses more fragrant 
if my eyes filled with tears each time I smell them?
Would they be more dazzling 
if I could not gather them without reciting poems to them?
Does the rain ask the earth to tremble with love,
and the moon ask the desert
to reward her for lighting its expanse?

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), "Réponse", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 17, 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: 2026-02-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 64