Les amours d'antan [English translation]

Me, my loves of yesteryear were working class girls:

Margot, the washerwoman, and Fanchon, the young seamstress…

not the least bit of blue blood, I’m not ashamed to say,

You’ll tell me that they were commoner graces,

gutter nymphs, Venuses from beyond the pale,

Your Grace, we have the ladies of olden times that we can…

Because the heart, at age 20, goes where the eye leads,

the first petticoat seen is a big deal for you,

the most humble herdswoman is a King’s portion.

When the marchioness couldn’t be had, you knew her maid

and in the absence of a fleur de lys you had the daisy,

in spring Cupid makes arrows from all sorts of wood…

You met the pretty girl at Les Puces1 on Sunday :

“I please you, you please me…” and it was in the bag,

and highfalutin sentiments were not mandatory.

“I please you, you please me… come on then, handsome soldier…”

you set out to Kythera2 on a suburban train

you weren’t even required to bring your heart…

Mimi, at first sight, hardly seemed good-looking,

where she bought furs they’d no doubt never heard of ermine,

her clothes didn’t come from any God’s workshop…

But when she threw her dull and simple clothes

over the Galette windmill3 for you,

it was Psyche in all her beauty4 who was right under your eyes.

Sometimes at the second date no-one showed up,

she’d let you down, the little Amazon,

but you didn’t hurry to kill yourself even so…

The daisy5 you had begun for Suzette

you finished plucking its petals for Lizette

and love found contentedness with that just the same.

You’ll tell me that they were commoner graces,

gutter nymphs, Venuses from beyond the pale,

but they were my loves, I’m not ashamed to say,

Manons, Mimis, Suzons, Suzettes,

Margot. The washerwoman, and Fanchon, the young seamstress…

Your Grace, we have the ladies of olden times that we can…

1. The Paris flea market by Porte de Clignancourt, always just called “The Fleas”2. the island of the Greek goddess of love; not be be taken literally, as Paris’s suburban trains don’t actually reach that far3. a famous windmill and restaurant in Montmartre4. Psyche, in Greek myth, was so beautiful that Eros fell in love with her5. for playing “she loves me, she loves me not, picking on petal for each statement