La Foule [English translation]

I see the city again in celebration and madness,

suffocating under the sun and the joy.

And I hear in the music the cries, the laughter

that break forth and rebound around me.

And lost among people who jostle me,

stunned, helpless, I remain put—

until suddenly, I turn around, he backs up

and the crowd comes to throw me into his arms.

Carried away by the crowd that drags us away—

sweeps us away—

crushed against one another,

we form one body.

And the effortless flow

pushes us, attached one to the other,

and leaves us both

exhausted, intoxicated, and happy.

Swept away the crowd that charges

and that dances

a mad farandole—

our two hands clasped together

and sometimes raised.

Our entangled bodies both fly away

and fall back —

exhausted, intoxicated, and happy.

And the joy splashed across his smile

pierces me and echoes deep inside of me.

But suddenly I cry out in the midst of the laughter

when the crowd pulls him out of my arms.

Carried away by the crowd that drags us away—

sweeps us away—

we move far away from one another.

I fight and I struggle.

But the sound of my voice

is stifled by the laughter of others

and I cry out in pain, fury, and rage

and I cry.

Swept away the crowd that charges

and that dances

a mad farandole—

I am carried far away.

And I clasp my fists, cursing at the crowd that steals from me

the man that it gave to me me

and that I have never found again.