Yes?
When something ends that shouldn't end,
you make sure it goes on.
In your head.
You simply begin again
at the beginning.
Francine, I remember exactly.
It was May 15.
Spring was late.
It was about to rain.
And you were screaming.
Sometimes, in moments like that one,
you hear yourself talking,
and you ask yourself:
Where did these sentences come from?
And when you fall in love, you do things
you didn't even know you had in you.
That gesture, for instance: I picked it up
From some cheap novel, ten years ago.
And I'd never thought of it again.
Until that day.
And you were accepted, of course.
You moved from Boston to Paris
into a little apartment
on the rue du Faubourg St. Denis.
I introduced you to our neighbourhood,
my bars, my school.
I introduced you to my friends, my parents.
I listened to your texts,
your singing, your hopes,
your desires, your music.
You listened to mine, my Italian,
my German, a bit of Russian.
You learned French
and found a job in a caf.
I brought you to the academy
and started to prepare for my exams.
Every week you wore a new perfume,
though there was always a hint of vanilla.
I gave you a walkman,
you gave me a pillow
and at some point you kissed me.
Time went by, time flew,
and everything seemed so easy, so simple.
Free. So new and so unique.
We went to the movies, we went dancing,
we went shopping, we laughed,
you cried, we swam,
we smoked, we shaved.
Now and then you screamed without
any reason or with a reason.
Yes, sometimes
you did have a reason.
I brought you to the academy.
I studied for my exams.
I listened to your singing,
to your hopes,
to your desires, to your music.
You listened to mine,
to my ltalian, my German,
my bits of Russian, you learned French.
We were close,
so close, ever so close.
I studied for my exams;
the new perfume,
We went to the movies,
we swam,
we listened to music, we laughed,
I studied for my exams,
you screamed, sometimes with a reason,
and sometimes without.
Time went by.
Time flew.
I brought you to the academy, I studied
for my exams, we listened to music.
You listened to my ltalian,
my German, my Russian, my French.
I studied for my exams.
You screamed, sometimes with a reason.
Time went by. For no reason,
you screamed, for no reason.
I brought you to the academy.
I studied for my exams, my exams...
Italian, German, Russian, French.
Time went by. You screamed.
You screamed. You screamed.
l went to the movies.
Forgive me, Francine.