La dignité [English translation]

The strong man, tatooed on the arms

The weak man at his last meal

The lone man at the foot of the cross

Look for dignity

The wise man in the strand of straw

The young man between two fights

The poor man in the stained-glass window

Look for dignity

Someone died, how?

One can’t say

But dignity was the first to leave

I’ve scoured the town, crossed the cities

Run as much as I could run

I’ve searched in me, I’ve searched all around

I’ve searched by night and by day

I’ve asked the cops at every crossroads

Have you seen dignity

The vacant man by the curb 1

The man surrounded by a thousand mirrors

All ask if it’s not too late

For dignity

The worried man facing the doctor

The man who shows all the lines of his hand

Each on asks where, when, how

For dignity?

I’ve seen these guys, I no longer know which channel

Dignity had long ago left the stage

He tried to laugh, but the laughs were false

Everyone applauded even so

He sold gold to condemned men

Castles to lost people

Overall, he had first sold

His dignity

These children pushed towards the flames

All these bruises on women’s faces

Half of the world is calling out for

More dignity

There’s no respite, there’s no rest

I’m on the river, in this bad boat

While everything shakes, I try to read your word

On dignity

Each one showed me an image and I thought

Dignity has never let itself be photographed

You can change the world

The shapes and the colours

Search to the end of the desert

There are so many roads and so many brambles

So many shadows where one can sink

Will I one day have the answer

On dignity?

1. or maybe ‘hungry’ or ‘empty’

• Artist:Francis Cabrel
• Album:Vise le ciel