Quand les roses [English translation]

When the roses blossomed

the girls used to go out.

Petticoats would be seen

dancing in all the gardens.

Then the roses would wither,

the girls would go back indoors

to spend the season of snowflakes

in their pleasant dwellings1.

It was charming, it was charming,

the rose season was charming,

when one thinks of it with closed eyes.

But today's roses

are artificial

and the girls go to pick flowers

in summer as in winter.

They no longer put up with boredom,

these young ladies,

they make up their bodies and their hearts

and go out for some fresh air.

1. écrin generally means a place in which valuable objects are stored. I guess this is saying the girls were objects of value which were stored for the winter in their houses. But I don't recall ever seeing écrin used like this before. Of course the alternatives (eg "demeure") don't rhyme with "jardins"