Snake Charmer | With very slow and tiny steps

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Charmeuse de Serpents

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

A petits pas, à pas très lents,
Va la charmeuse de serpents,
Vers leurs corps souples et rampants.

Elle chante et sourit tranquille,
Tandis qu'à ses pieds un reptile
A dardé sa langue subtile.

Est-ce avec ses yeux ou sa voix
Qu'elle sait ainsi chaque fois
Les attirer du fond des bois ?

Deux serpents aux bras, la charmeuse
Sous leur caresse paresseuse
Tressaille et rêve langoureuse.

Elle tient fermés ses yeux lourds,
Et rêve à de fauves amours,
A des corps enlacés toujours,

Et soudain farouche, extatique,
Ainsi qu'une prêtresse antique,
Danse, en sifflant un chant mystique.

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Troisième Édition, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1893, pages 73-74.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Charmeuse de serpents", 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 Charles Lefebvre (1843 - 1917), "Charmeuse de Serpents", published [1900] [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt Mélodies en trois volumes, no. 9, Paris, Éd. A. Noël [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Snake Charmer", 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: 2025-05-17
Line count: 18
Word count: 97

Snake Charmer

Language: English after the French (Français)

With very slow and tiny steps,
The snake charmer approaches
Their lithe, creeping bodies.

She sings and smiles calmly,
While at her feet a reptile 
Darts its subtle tongue.

Is it with her eyes or her voice 
That she can always in this way
Draw them from the depths of the forest?

Two snakes in her arms, the charmer
Under their indolent caress
Quivers and dreams languorously.

She keeps her heavy eyes closed,
And dreams of musky loves,
With bodies forever intertwined,

And suddenly wild, ecstatic,
Like an ancient priestess,
She dances, whistling a mystical song.

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Charmeuse de serpents", 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: 2025-06-24
Line count: 18
Word count: 96