Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net
If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.
Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Jusqu'a l'instant où mes yeux se fermeront pour toujours, je remercierai le Seigneur d'avoir permis qu'un tel souvenir enchantât ma vie. A l'instant où mes yeux se fermeront pour toujours, c'est ton nom que je prononcerai, et celui du jardin abandonné qui fut, pour nous, pendant deux nuits, le plus magnifique des palais. Les bosquets du Paradis ne me feront pas oublier, pauvres arbres du jardin d'Ekoûm, que j'ai goûté, sous vos branches, des délices qui m'arrachaient des larmes ! Les somptueux tapis des pelouses sacrées seront moins veloutés que ton gazon pelé, sur lequel nous nous sommes assis, jardin d'Ekoûm, et le gazouillement de la fontaine Tasnim sera moins mélodieux que la source qui filtrait entre tes rocailles... Bien-aimée, maintenant que je suis parti, reviendras-tu t'asseoir dans le jardin abandonné ? Céderas-tu à la douceur d'aller rêver à mon amour, et à ma tristesse, si tu la devines ? Un soir, comme si j'étais là, mets-toi nue, joyeusement, sous les arbres du jardin d'Ekoûm !
Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, 73e édition, Paris: Tradition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, pages 127-129.
Text Authorship:
- by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Le souvenir unique", written 1911?, appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 133, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1911 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Arabic (العربية) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Alfred Cozanet (1870 - 1938), as Jean d'Udine, "Le souvenir unique", published 1929 [ high voice and piano ], from Sept poèmes arabes extraits du Jardin des Caresses de Franz Toussaint, no. 7, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Sole Memory", 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: 2025-02-17
Line count: 22
Word count: 162
Until the moment when my eyes are closed forever, I will thank the Lord for allowing such a memory to enchant my life. At the moment when my eyes are closed forever, it is your name that I will speak, and that of the deserted garden that for us was, for two nights, the most magnificent of palaces. The groves of Paradise will not make me forget, humble trees of the garden of Ekoûm, that under your branches I have tasted delights that wrested tears from me! The sumptuous carpets of the sacred lawns will be less velvety than your bare turf where we sat, garden of Ekoûm, and the babbling of the Tasnim fountain will be less melodious than the spring that filtered among your rocks ... Beloved, now that I am gone, will you return to sit in the deserted garden? Will you yield to the sweetness of going to dream of my love, and of my sadness, if you sense it? One night, as if I were there, go naked, joyously, under the trees of the garden of Ekoûm!
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), "Le souvenir unique", written 1911?, appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 133, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1911
Based on:
- a text in Arabic (العربية) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2026-02-27
Line count: 22
Word count: 181