Mon enfance [English translation]

I was wrong. I returned

To this faraway lost city

Where I had spent my childhood.

I was wrong. I wanted to see again

The hill where every evening

Blue and grey shadows of silence used to slip in.

And I found again as before,

Long after,

The hill, the tree standing,

As in the past.

I walked in the burning temples,

Believing I could suffocate under my footsteps

The pathways of the past that haunt us

And come back to ring the death knell.

And I lay down under the tree

And the same smells were there.

And I let my tears flow,

My tears.

I put my bare back against the bark.

The tree gave me back some strength

Just like in the time of my childhood.

And for a long time I kept my eyes closed.

I believe I prayed a little.

I found my innocence again.

Before evening fell

I wanted to see

The flowery houses beneath the roses.

I wanted to see

The garden where our children's shouts

Gushed forth like a freshwater spring.

Jean-Claude, Régine, and then Jean -

Everybody once again became like yesterday -

The heavy scent of red salvia (kind of flowers),

The fawn-colored dahlias along the garden path,

The well, everything, I found everything again.

Alas!

The war had dumped us there,

Others were less fortunate, I think,

In the beautiful time of their childhood.

The war had dumped us there.

We lived as if outside the law.

And I loved it. When I think about

Where my springtimes, where my suns,

Where my crazy lost years,

Where I turned fifteen years old, where my wonders -

How it hurts to have come back -

Where the fresh nuts of September

And the smell of crushed mulberries,

It's crazy, everything, I found everything again.

Alas!

You should never go back

To the hidden times of memories,

To the blessed time of your childhood.

For among all the memories,

Those of childhood are the worst,

Those of childhood tear us apart.

Oh my dearest, oh my mother,

Where are you today?

You sleep in the warmth of the earth.

And I came here

To find here once again your laughter,

Your anger and your youth.

And I remain with my distress.

Alas!

So why did I come back

Alone to this street corner?

I'm cold, I'm afraid, nighttime is falling.

Why did I come here,

Where my past crucifies me,

Where my childhood sleeps forever