Avant de t'aimer [English translation]

Before I loved you, I thought that women were churches

Like you find at the four corners of Venice, and that you could visit them

Before I loved you, I said that they were nothing but sweets

Like bonbons, and that you could share them

Before I loved you, I thought that women were chapels

Closed in, inside citidels offered up to chastity

Before I loved you, I thought that women were airheaded

That they were just models for a brush or a pen

Before I loved you, I thought that women were parishes

That they belonged to the warden who would trap and bag his prey

Before I loved you, I had my doubts about women and what they were worth

When they closed the door, without a backward glance or a regret

But today, ladies, I know that you are cathedrals

Lady ants, lady grasshoppers, ladies made to be loved

Lady Hope be praised, you, that I imagined so innocent

You saved me, adrift in the river of tears in which my heart was drowning

Before I loved you, I thought that women were churches

Like you find at the four corners of Venice, and that you could visit them

But that was before I loved you, long before I loved you

• Artist:Charles Aznavour