Les Lilas [English translation]

When I go to the florist,

I only buy lilacs...

If my song sounds sad

It's because love has gone.

As I was, in a way.

In love with these flowers,

I came through the gate,

Through Porte de Lilas.

Lilacs, there were barely any,

Lilacs, there were none,

They all died in the war,

Passed into the next world.

I came upon a beauty

Beginning to blossom,

I wanted to graft onto her

My love for lilacs.

I marked with a white cross.

The day we took off,

Hanging from a branch,

A branch of lilacs.

Fragile love, hold the helm steady,

Time will come through here,

And time is a barbarian

Not unlike Attila.*

Through the hearts where its horse passes

Love won't grow back,

In every corner of that space

The desert appears beneath its feet.

Now our love is dead,

Vanished into the beyond

Leaving the keys under the door,

At Porte de Lilas.

The Sunday warbler,

The one that used to give me A,

Has perched on other branches

Other lilac branches.

When I go to the florist,

I only buy lilacs...

If my song sounds sad

It's because love is no longer there.

• Artist:Georges Brassens