C’était l’hiver [English translation]

She used to say: I’ve walked on for far too long

My heart is already too heavy with secrets

Too heavy with sorrows

She used to say: I won’t go on any further

What awaits me I’ve already been through

It’s no longer worth it

She used to say life was cruel

She no longer believed in the sun

Or in what churches left unsaid

Even my smiles would scare her

Winter it was at the bottom of her heart

The wind had never been colder

The rain harsher than on that evening

Of the day she turned twenty

That evening when she put out the fire

Behind the blind of her eyes

In a flash of white

She has no doubt got back to heaven

She’s shining beside the sun

As do the new churches

But if, since that evening, I’ve been crying

It’s because it’s cold

At the bottom of my heart

• Artist:Francis Cabrel
• Album:Les Chemins de traverse (1971)