Il a chanté [English translation]

He came for the reaping.

He was a strong and handsome lad

With tender eyes and hard lips.

while reaping, he sang

And, in his voice, could be heard

All the voices of nature.

He sang of the bright spring,

Of birds, shining meadows,

Green copses, new-grown flowers.

In the evening, for the assembled people,

He sang the song of the cornstalks

In the crooked line of the reaped bunches1.

He sang.

The reapers listened to him,

And the mistress listened to him too.

He sang

Then he said "To my health!

And tomorrow, I'll be on my way."

Everyone was asleep, towards midnight,

As he was about to go quietly,

The master's wife came

Quite pale with her heart beating

And beautiful with desire anyway

And almost nude under her cloak.

She said "It's you I have waited for,

For days, for years.

Stay with me until the dawn...

Sing me the song o lve

And let me at last live my dream!"

He sang,

With closed eyes, she listened to

His sweet voice which takes her all.

He sang

Of love, of death, of sensual delight

And, both of them, they set off.

The parted the next day.

She knew the bitter way,

Hunger, work, sadness

For her lover, quickly tired of her,

WIth no regrets for the past,

Flirted with other mistresses.

No longer being able to put up with more,

After nights and days of hell,

she said, the poor loving girl,

"Beloved, don't feel any remorse.

sing me the song of death...

ANd leave me, I am happy..."

He sang,

With closed eyes, she listened to

The immense shudder which destroyed her completely.

He sang.

With a sigh, she was gone

And then he set off again...

1. the Javelles are the small bunches of reaped corn or rye left lying on the stubble before being collected, tied into sheaves, and the sheaves stood in stooks to dry before stacking or stripping and threshing. Cotgrave's dictionary (1611) gave "gauel" for Javelle and in later English that was "gavel" (see Boyers French - English dictionary (1792) but the word has not been used in Britain in that sense for a long time, in fact ever since modern harvesters took over from reaping by hand in the English-speaking parts of Britain, so it's not a word to be used in translation to modern English. Hence "reaped bunches".

• Artist:Édith Piaf