Toi, tu me plais - Julien Clerc translation in English

Toi, tu me plais

Elle a pris ses enfants
Et elle les a noyés.
C'était seulment
Des carrés de papier.
Cent-vingt pages déchirées
Qui allaient se baigner
Juste là où la Seine
Embrasse Aubervilliers.
Du haut du pont de fer
Elle les a vus flotter, S'en aller vers la mer
Nourrir les naufragés.
Un tout petit roman
Qui disait sans mentir
Qu'on peut tout inventer, Même ses souvenirs.Ça s'appelait:"Toi, tu me plais".
On lui avait dit: Non, Qu'il faudrait travailler, En faire un peu plus long
En soignant les effets.
D'autres qui n'avaient pas lu
Lui avaient écrit: Ceci ne rentre pas
Dans nos catégories.
D'autres, encore plus polis
Lui avaient proposéDe travailler l'histoireÀ quatre mains croisées.
Comme on dirait aux femmes, Aux Indiens, aux enfants:"Tout ça n'est pas sérieux.
Couchez-vous maintenant."Elle a pris son enfant
Et elle l'a noyé.
C'était son manuscrit
Qu'elle avait déchiré.
Il était moins de six heures.
Le soleil souriait.
Le monde et le bonheur.
Quelque part l'attendaient.Ça s'appelait:"Toi, tu me plais".

You, I Like You

She took her children,
And she drowned them.
They were only
Squares of paper.
One hundred and twenty torn pages
That went to bathe
Just where the Seine
Kisses Aubervilliers.
From the top of the iron bridge
She watched them float, Drift away towards the sea
To feed the shipwrecked.
A tiny novel
That said without lying
That you can invent everything, Even your memories. It was called: "You, I Like You".
They had told her: No, That she would have to work, Make it a little longer
By taking care of the effects.
Others who had not read
Had written to her: This does not fit
In our categories.
Others, even more polite,
Had proposed to her To work on the story With four crossed hands.
As they would say to women, To Indians, to children: "All this is not serious.
Go to bed now." She took her child
And she drowned it.
It was her manuscript
That she had torn up.
It was before six o'clock.
The sun was smiling.
The world and happiness.
Somewhere they were waiting for her. It was called: "You, I Like You".