Au Parc Monceau [English translation]

In Parc Monceau,

Among the railings and the colonnade,

Children were playing with their hoops.

By the lake,

The birds were singing,

Hidden in the reeds.

Parc Monceau

A small part of my life -

The old man by the swings,

The black swans.

Trapped by the lake and the Roundhouse

The city was a world away.

In Parc Monceau

Between the railings and the colonnade

History lessons were a good story.

She waited for me in silence

By the underground.

I took her hand as if it were a gift.

Parc Monceau

My first kiss (...)

On a bench along a covered path

A ray of hope,

The fear, the crazy wish to be lost in time

My hand placed against her heart (...)

In Parc Monceau

Among the railings and the colonnade

We teenagers were rocked

By a cradle of happiness

As the pyramid and its thousand years

Hid us from passers-by.

A park in France

A small part of my childhood

Where I grew up

One fateful day

A distant memory of a garden

Which, from nowhere, crosses my mind.

In Parc Monceau

Between the railings and the colonnade

Among the nannies and the prams

In Parc Monceau

Among the flowers and the sparrows

History lessons were a good story.

• Artist:Yves Duteil