La lettre [English translation]

There’s no signature

And no date on it,

But this is your handwriting,

I can’t be mistaken.

There’s no header,

It’s not your blue paper.

All your letters, I used to

Drink1 them with my eyes.

I’m afraid to turn the page.

I’m afraid to read the end.

I’ll need a lot of courage

To face the coming days.2

My eyes are burning

I have a lump in my throat.

Oh, I feel a little bit ridiculous

And I feel like crying.

There’s been to many trips,

Too many trains, too many boats.

You on a platform3, I on another

And so many plans fallen through.

There isn’t the daisy

That you used to draw for me

And meant ‘I love you.’

In our secret code.

But the blue paper is over

And this is just grey paper,

As grey as the sky of Paris

And grey like my life.

There’s been to many trips,

Too many trains, too many boats.

You on a wharf, I on another

And so many plans fallen through.

There’s been too many oceans

Between us and our love.

Talking to each other through a piece of paper

Has made us forget each other.

There’s been to many trips,

Too many trains, too many boats.

You on a wharf, I on another

And so many plans fallen through.

There’s been too many oceans

Between us and our love.

Talking to each other through a piece of paper

Has made us forget each other.

1. Poetic licence.2. Literally: my future days = my/the future.3. Or a wharf.

• Artist:Sylvie Vartan