La chanson d'Azima [English translation]

When the desert advances

It's life that retreats

Blame it on bad luck

Or god who smites us

And the desert is advancing

Nobody believes it

That's out downfall

The impossible fight

When the desert advances

What do you want us to be?

The Tuareg women dance

They don't believe it either

In their childhood memories

The hunters were there

But the desert advances

The sand becomes king

And it's our suffering

Which flows between our fingers

In these immense dunes

Who will survive

But you, who come from France

Where people drink to forget

Tell them what you think

Tell them what you see

Tell them what their chances are

And that they don't see it

And that we're dying of impotence

But we're keeping the faith

May the desert advance

And water never come

Without that deliverance

We no longer have a choice

Tell them that night is falling

On this awful emergency

And that it's on our tombs

That the desert is advancing