A keresés eredménye

I will cry

The wind has helped me with its bellowing gust,
With its furious waves the sea has helped me too.
I will cry.
 
All along the way I will call the stones,
The bushes, the ditches, the trees, even the forests.
I will cry.
 
When I hear a voice
And feel something in my chest,
I will cry.
 
So as to make the meat in my throat blow up!
So as to make my blood rush in a primal scream!
I will cry, I will cry!
I will cry, I will cry!
 
Like a man who's stopped to look at the horizon
A man who's finally free from the weight of his chains
That were forged by mad kings and bloody barons,
And monks, all red from the glow of the fire
 
Where my brothers from the past have burned alive
Who have sung about love and human friendship
And eaten white bread made of freedom!
I will cry, I will cry!
I will cry, I will cry!
 

The Conscript of 1810

I’m a poor conscript
From the year 18101 [x2]
I must leave Lengadoc, Lengadoc, Lengadoc
I must leave Lengadoc
To go to my death.
 
Far from here, there is a country
Of white snow, of grey skies [x2]
We must go there to die, go there to die
We must go there to die
For the Emperor and his son.
 
The rector and the schoolmaster
Talked to us for so long [x2]
We left so content, so content, so content
We left so content
We’ll be on the monument
 
Be sure Lengadocians
To have other children [x2]
We’ll need them in twenty years, in twenty years, in twenty years2
We’ll need them in twenty years
Blacks3 and Republicans
 
In this way, a boy wrote to you
Who was born close to your house
Sleep, you’ve walked so long, so long, so long
Sleep, you’ve walked so long,
And his story is at its end.
 

• 1. During the Napoleonic Wars.
• 2. I believe this refers to the events of the Bourbon Restoration and its fall.
• 3. I believe this refers to the clergy, although it could conceivably refer to Black soldiers as well.

Why Didn't They Tell Me?

Like all kids,
We went to school.
Like all kids,
They taught me to read.
 
They sang so many songs to me.
They taught me so many stories.
Lutèce1… Paris… Paris…
 
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school?
Why didn’t they tell me?
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school
The name of my country?
 
The schoolmaster told us
Of this great King of France
Who was attacked before the poor. 2
A holy man, this Saint Louis,
All the people loved him,
And he didn’t want misery,
A holy man, this Saint Louis.
 
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school?
Why didn’t they tell me?
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school
That he killed my country?
 
And when we were older
We had to speak three languages
In order to be a good technician.
We had to take on three languages:
English and German
And that which they write in Rome
In order to be a good technician.
 
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school?
Why didn’t they tell me
But why, why
Didn’t they tell me at school
The language of my country?
 
Maybe so much knowledge
Hides the truth from us.
We’ll learn by ourselves that on earth
Liberty doesn’t reign.
We will know of the hunger of India,
And the pain of the Africans,
And the death of Guevara.3
 
But why, why
Didn’t they say at school?
Why didn’t they say?
But why, why
Didn’t they say at school
The name of our country?
 

• 1. Gallo-Roman ruins in the Latin Quarter of Paris
• 2. I’m uncertain what this line refers to. Perhaps it is meant figuratively?
• 3. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary who fought against imperialism and neo-colonialism.