Desire for Death | In the purity of your eyes

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Désir de Mort

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Dans la pureté de tes yeux
Que nul souffle encor n'a ternie,
Luit un étang mystérieux,
Où dort une paix infinie.

Dans l'étang bleu de tes yeux dort
Une fraîcheur délicieuse :
Adorable serait la mort
En leur clarté silencieuse ! ...

Mort exquise, exquise langueur !
Oh ! ne plus penser, ne plus vivre ;
En cet étang laisser son cœur,
Comme un noyé qui se délivre !

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor: L'Illusion, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1925, Page 118.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Désir de Mort", written 1875, 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 Adolphe Biarent (1871 - 1916), "Désir de mort" [ voice and piano ], from Huit mélodies, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Paul Paray (1886 - 1979), "Désir de Mort", 1921, published 1923 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Quatre poèmes de J. Lahor, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Jobert [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Desire for Death", copyright © 2025, (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: 2022-12-17
Line count: 12
Word count: 62

Desire for Death

Language: English after the French (Français)

In the purity of your eyes 
Not yet tarnished by any breath,
Glistens a mysterious pool,
Where infinite peace lies sleeping.

In the blue pool of your eyes
Sleeps a delicious coolness:
It would be lovely to die
In their silent limpidity!...

Exquisite death, exquisite languor!
Oh! No longer to think, no longer live;
To leave one's heart in that pool,
Like a drowned man who rescues himself!

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, "Désir de Mort", written 1875, 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: 2025-06-28
Line count: 12
Word count: 68