On Love | Do not let a falcon sleep while you are taming it

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Sur l'amour

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

Our translations: ENG

Ne laisse pas dormir le faucon que tu apprivoises.
Ne lance pas ton cheval au galop sans l'avoir fait trotter.
Ne fais brouter ton méhari qu'à la lisière des oasis.
Et ne dis jamais à une femme que tu l'aimes.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des Caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, p.32

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Sur l'amour", written 1911?, appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 30, Paris, Éd. H. 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 Piero Coppola (1888 - 1971), "Sur l'amour", published 1924 [ high voice and piano ], from Dix Poèmes Arabes extraits du Jardin des caresses de Franz Toussaint, no. 9, Paris, Éd. Ricordi [sung text not yet checked]

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

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

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2025-02-17
Line count: 4
Word count: 40

On Love

Language: English after the French (Français)

Do not let a falcon sleep while you are taming it.
Do not spur your horse into a gallop without first trotting it.
Do not graze your camel except at the edge of an oasis. 
And never tell a woman that you love her.

Note for line 3: The original text speaks of a méhari, which is a particular type of swift camel used for riding. The French used to maintain camel-mounted cavalry units in northern Africa known as Méharistes.

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), "Sur l'amour", written 1911?, appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 30, Paris, Éd. H. 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: 2026-04-17
Line count: 4
Word count: 44