Hanoï [English translation]

I look back to see if I can see you again

Hanoi, Hanoi, I remember you

Your face, your smells, your water-channels

I watch you pass me – I am there

Hanoi, Hanoi, you keep hold of me

Your typhoons weep

Your heros die

The rain pours down

I listen to the sounds which

Re-echo around the lake

The waves of motor-cyclettes

Who is this other being ?

Your heart which sounds its horn

Under your crouching-down look

Around the lake it’s like

A world which seethes (bubbles up)

In front of me a picture

Lovers who doubt themselves

And my voice hums

I will see you again

The the humid heat on the pavements

Hanoi, Hanoi, you make me see

Your smile, your street life, your colours

Under the jungle of electric wires I lose my way

Hanoi, Hanoi, I belong to you

On the green water surface your puppets

Dance a different life

I listen to the sounds which

Re-echo around the lake

The waves of motor-cyclettes

Who is this other being ?

Your heart which sounds its horn

Under your crouching-down look

Around the lake it’s like

A world which seethes (bubbles up)

In front of me a picture

Lovers who doubt themselves

And my voice hums

I will see you again

I look back to see if I can see you again

Hanoi, Hanoi, so far from me

The bicycle, the queen of the night*, and me in Paris

Hanoi, Hanoi

*Epiphyllum oxypetalum, white flower that only blooms in the night, found in Vietnam