Les bateaux du métro [English translation]

From the city's balconies

One can see cranes that are swaying

some smokes and old magazines

sparse there in the icy streets

some cars that are passing.

One would like to see plenty of ships and boats

appear out of the stairways of the metro.

Up from the city's balconies,

one can hear the noise of sirens,

old rhapsodies, songs of the sea

coming from cellars near the Seine,

the melody of sea-shanties.

Up from the city's balconies

one can see love-stories forming

some rendez-vous near some statues

some flowers thrown into baskets

in the Montparnasse station.

One would like to see plenty of ships and boats

appear out of the stairways of the metro