Tôt ou tard s’en aller [English translation]

Leaving sooner or later

By the streams before us

To the middle of some sea or other

On the broken bridge of a junk 1

We’ll be leaving sooner or later

A few crumpled jackets

A few boxes in bits

In the oily night mist

Just our chilly bodies asleep

On a few crumpled jackets

I had dreams though

I had dreams

I had dreams though

Seeing the trains pulling away

The ceilings loaded with jewels

And all those people seated at tables, happy

And us, on the verges, feverishly

Watching the trains pulling away

Sometimes the children ask

How do we end up here

No doubt I was sleeping on a leaf

And autumn surprised me!

I had dreams though

I had dreams

I had dreams though

But leaving sooner or later

By the streams before us

To the middle of some sea or other

On the broken bridge of a junk

We’ll be leaving sooner or later

1. as in the boat