It does not warn you, it arrives
It comes from afar
It's walked from shore to shore
The laugh on the corner
And so one morning, at the waking up
It's almost nothing
But it's there, it makes you fall asleep
In the hollow of the loin
The pain to live
The pain to live
One has to live
It is worthy to live
One could put it on a shoulder strap
Or like a ring on a hand
Like a flower in a buttonhole
Or at the forefront of a breast
It's not necessary misery
It's no Valmy, it's no Verdun
But it's tears in eyelids
In a day that dies, in a day that comes
The pain to live
The pain to live
One has to live
It is worthy to live
Should we be from Rome or from America
From London or Beijing
Should we be from Egypt or even Africa
Or the port of Saint-Martin
We all pray the same prayer
We all go the same way
And it is long when we have to do it
With our pain in the hollow of the loin
They try to comprehend us in vain
Those who come to us with naked hands
We don't want to hear them anymore
We cannot, we can do it no more
And all alone in the silence
Of a night that does not end it anymore
Then when suddenly we think
Of those who have not come back
From the pain to live
Their pain to live
That they have to live
That it is worthy to live
And without warning, it arrives
It comes from afar
It's walked from shore to shore
The laugh on the corner
And so one morning, at the waking up
It's almost nothing
But it's there, it makes you fall asleep
In the hollow of the loin
The joy to live
The joy to live
Oh, come live it
Your joy to live