Place espoir [English translation]

She has seen so many poems and so many promises

She has seen pasty mornings and nights of revelry

She has seen so many dead leaves and so many roses

She has managed to stay strong and to console people’s hearts

She has seen so many springs and dawning days

She has huddled underneath the wind, just waiting to see out

Fads and hallucinations, passing fancies

Dreams of tomorrow and a future shared

She has seen so many smiles and so many lovers

She has managed to grow all that they sowed

She has seen so much hope, so many struggles and battles

Embodied in faces now lost to anonymity

She has seen so many skies and so many suns

Children in wonder and lovers awakening

She has seen mirages, brief sparks

She has seen omens and languages mixing

She has seen so much peace, so much thought, and anger

She has seen so many wounds and bitter prayers

She has seen so many hands join and clasp

Never to embrace, never to forget

She has seen so much fear and so many questions

She has seen so much noise, so many resolutions

She has seen so much shadow, so much light and smoke

Fireworks and rain, shopfronts and ground glass

She has seen so much of you

She has seen so much of me

So many enigmatic lives

Place de la République

• Artist:Tim Dup