Le chemin de l'école [English translation]

Have you looked again at our tracks on the path to school?

There where our feet would drag, our schoolbags on our shoulders,

The wind erased them, a road has taken its place there

Even our names on the willow, time has chased them away

On the area surrounding the barn, a furious dog would come out

Barking towards the sky at the game of curious children

That was us and our laughs on

Life's path

I had to let go of your hand

I want to today

Of our chalk, of our dreams

A washed blackboard

Yes time has passed, nothing remains

Of our traits, of our lips

A blackboard used

By broken, lost promises

Nothing remained

And the two of us, we missed the train

Have you saved those words that I had written

On the pages?

Those of the history books,

of the envelopes and the margins

You lost them, moved them forward into the fire

Or let them die by the hands

Of other women

I, I saved the flowers in a yellowed notebook

Five crumpled petals that say "madly" 1

It's on this stone bench

On the path to school

That for the first time

You took me by the shoulder

Have you seen your buddies again, those for which you

Left me, standing in front of my door

So sad and wounded

Where are they today?

And she who ravished you?

There's only me and me alone getting old

Close to your bed

That blade that brings you

This chagrin that no one sees

To not hurt others

You've turned it on yourself

How?

Have you been able to forget this path, that school?

When I loved you less than my father

But much more than another man

For other paths...

1. Lit.: "to madness"