C’était l’hiver [English translation]

She used to say "I walked on far too long,

My heart is already too heavy with secrets,

Too heavy with sorrows."

She used to say "I won't go on any further,

What awaits me, I've already been through

It's not worth it anymore."

She used to say that life was cruel,

She no longer believed in the sun

Nor in the silence of churches.

Even my smiles scared her

It was winter at the bottom of her heart.

The wind has never been colder,

The rain harsher than on that evening

The evening when she turned twenty

The evening when she put out the fire

Behind the facade of her eyes

In a white flash.

She surely met with the sky, (heavens)

She shines next to the sun

As the new churches do.

But since that evening, I cry

Because it's cold

At the bottom of my heart.

• Artist:Francis Cabrel
• Album:Les Chemins de traverse (1971)