Mets ta main sur mes yeux : je ne veux plus rien voir
Et ne plus rien sentir, hors ta chère présence,
[Puisque ainsi]1 ta tendresse est mon unique espoir,
Et que ton amour sûr est ma seule croyance.

Mets ta main sur mes yeux, mets mon front sur ton cœur ;
Que ton âme de fleur me caresse et pénètre,
M'imprégnant d'une exquise et mortelle langueur,
Et fais descendre en moi le calme de ton être.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Troisième édition, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1893, pages 96-97.

¹ Baton: "Puisqu'ainsi"

Text Authorship:

• by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Tendresse", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre [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 Alfred Bachelet (1864 - 1944), "Tendresse", published <<1894 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 3, Éd. H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by René-Emmanuel Baton (1879 - 1940), as Rhené-Baton, "Tendresse", op. 16 no. 5 (1911), published 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq mélodies sur des poèmes de Jean Lahor, no. 5, Paris, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Léontine Benoit Granier (d. 1957), "Tendresse" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Tendresse", published 1912 [ high voice and piano ], from L'Illusion, poème en neuf chants de Jean Lahor, no. 6, Lyon, Éd. Janin Frères [sung text not yet checked]
• by Robert Ravarin (1890 - 1917), "Tendresse", 1907 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gustave Samazeuilh (1877 - 1967), "Tendresses", published 1914 [ high voice and piano ], Paris: Durand [sung text not yet checked]

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

• ENG English (Peter Low) , "Tenderness", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Paul Hindemith

This text was added to the website: 2009-09-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 75