La maison près de la fontaine [English translation]

The old house next to the fountain,

Overgrown by the vine

And cobweb-ridden,

Used to smell of fruit-jam,

Untidiness

And of darkness,

Autumn,

Childhood,

Eternity.

Around/ it, there were just

Silence

And wasps

And also some bird's nests

We used to go angling

For crayfish together with

Mr the priest

We would swim stark naked ,muddy,

With all the little girls

And the ducklings

The old house, near the council-flats

Has become a factory

And a supermarket

And the trees have vanished

And all smells sulphurised hydrogen

Petrol

and War

Society

it's not so Bad

It's just normal

Progress, It's called.