L'eau vive [English translation]

My girlfriend is like water

She's like the running water

She runs like a stream

That children follow

Run, run,

Quick as you can

Never, never

You'll never catch up to her

When the pipes sing

When the running water dances

She leads the flocks

To the land of olives

Come, come,

My kids, my lambs

In the laurel,

The thyme and the wild thyme

One day, when beneath the reeds,

My running water was sleeping

The men from the village came

To take her captive

Close, close,

Your double-locked cage

Between your fingers

The running water will fly

Like small boats

Carried by the running water

In her eyes, the youths

Were set adrift

Sail, sail

Tomorrow you'll drop anchor

The running water

Is not yet to marry

And yet, one new morning

At dawn, my running water

Will come to beat her trousseau

Against the pebbles of the shore

Cry, cry

If I remain forlorn

The rivulet

Has gone offshore