Télégramme [English translation]

It's a telegram for Marie Bélage,

In the courtyard, staircase B, fifth floor

Third door to the left, two steps down,

Knock hard so she can hear you.

The little postman climbs two by two.

An old maiden comes to open the door.

In a harsh and bad-tempered voice,

She says "Thank you" then retreats.

She opens the telegram while trembling.

We generally don't like that.

She reads out loud, her throat dry,

Then she reads again silently ten times.

"Will be Orly 1 – eight o'clock – May second –

Am impatient – Am overjoyed –

I love you more than ever2 –

Love – kisses – sighed – François..."

She returns, twenty years back.

How they loved each other twenty years ago

But alas, their parents refused.

He was pennyless.

"I'll come back with a fortune."

She told him: "I will wait for you.

I also want you to promise me

That you will never forget me."

He left– months, years pass.

She is facing life all alone.

Beauty, freshness, youth... it all fades

And more money means more friends...

Travellers arrive from Mexico.

Ah, here he is! How tall he is!

His gray temples give him a poetic look.

He is more handsome than twenty years ago.

She is all pale and her hand burn.

How hard her poor heart is beating!

He comes toward her, he bumps into her.

"I beg your pardon! Tell me, porter!

I'm looking for a very beautiful and elegant lady.

Big blue eyes, blonde hair,

Quite short... Wait! I believe it's her...

Ah! No, it's not her...

I beg your pardon

You wouldn't have seen a blonde lady –

Elegant – very beautiful –

You wouldn't have seen a blonde lady –

Elegant – very beautiful –

You wouldn't have seen...

1. Orly is in the southern suburbs of Paris 2. Vous is the "formal" you, which you would use to address your boss, a stranger, people you don't know well. It seems very strange to address a lover that way, but among the French upper crust, it wasn't/isn't uncommon for even married coupes to call each other vous.

• Artist:Édith Piaf