I feel in all my being a strange torment

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Je sens dans tout mon être un étrange...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG

Chosen for Diff

Je sens dans tout mon être un étrange tourment,
Je sens dans tout mon être une affreuse détresse,
Je souffre d'une soif immense de tendresse,
D'immenses désirs fous en mon cœur trop aimant.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 15.

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 1907, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 8, 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 Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Nuit d'été", published 1930 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Durand [sung text not yet checked]

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

by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Dans la nuit, j'ai versé mon âme", published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Sous le ciel de l'Islam, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Heugel
- View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Laura Stanfield Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-05-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 33

I feel in all my being a strange torment

Language: English after the French (Français)

Chosen for Diff

I feel in all my being a strange torment,
I feel in all my being a frightful distress,
I suffer from an overwhelming thirst for tenderness,
From overwhelming mad desires in my too-loving heart.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Nuit d'été" = "Summer Night"

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 Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, written 1907, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 8, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1907
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-08-26
Line count: 4
Word count: 34