Ballade à la lune [English translation]

It was, in the dimly lit nght,

over the yellowed bell tower,

the moon

like the dot on an i.

Moon, what dark spirit

takes your face and your profile

for a walk in the dark

on the end of a string ?

Are you the eye of the one-eyed sky ?

What disgruntled cherub

has his eye on us

from behind your pale wan mask ?

Is this a worm that eats into you

when your darkened disc

is stretched out

as a shrunken crescent?

Are you, I am suspicious of it,

the old iron clock

which sounds

the time for the damned of hell

on your travelling brow?

Have they counted tonight

how old

their eternity is?

Who had blinded one of your eyes,

the other night? Had you

bumped

into a pointed shaft?

For you came, pale and gloomy

to stick your horn onto

my windows

through the bars.

Moon, in our memories

the story

of your sweet loves

will always increase your beauty

And always looking bright

you will be be blessed by

passers-by,

whether full moon or crescent

and come wind or snow

my-self, each night,

what am I doing

coming to sit here?

I come to see the in the dim light

on the yellowed bell-tower,

the moon

like the dot on an i.

I come to see the in the dim light

on the yellowed bell-tower,

the moon

like the dot on an i.

• Artist:Georges Brassens
• Album:Rares et inédits : 1959-1980