Your eyes open up for me like a dark paradise

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Tes yeux s'ouvrent pour moi comme un...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

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Tes yeux s'ouvrent pour moi comme un paradis noir,
Un lointain paradis où mon rêve, le soir, 
Va se perdant parmi des fleurs et des étoiles, 
Mais sans y pénétrer le secret que tu voiles.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• E. Moret

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1896, page 17.

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, written 1896, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 90, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1907 [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 Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Le paradis noir de tes yeux noirs", published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sous le ciel de l'Islam, no. 10, Paris, Éd. Heugel
Score: IMSLP [external link] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

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

Your eyes open up for me like a dark...

Language: English after the French (Français)

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Your eyes open up for me like a dark paradise, 
A distant paradise where at night my dream
Loses itself among flowers and stars, 
But without penetrating the secret that you veil.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Le paradis noir de tes yeux noirs" = "The Dark Paradise of Your Eyes"

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, written 1896, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 90, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1907
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-05-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 32