Ne Me Quitte Pas

One of my favourite French songs is "Ne Me Quitte Pas" ("Don't Leave Me") by Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel. 

It's a classic - mainly, I think, because it's so emotional, raw and wrenching. The grim persistent desperation of the original somehow gets lost in the translation, unfortunately. I've had a try at it, see what you think.

"Don't leave me, you have to forget,

Anything can be forgotten, and it's already drifting away.

Forget the time of misunderstandings and lost time - 

You just have to know how -

To forget all those hours that killed sometimes,

Throwing around words like "Why?", "Heart of Happiness".

Don't leave me.

I will offer you pearls of rain

That come from countries where it never rains.

I will till the soil until after my death

To cover your body with gold and light.

I will create a kingdom

Where Love will be King,

Where Love will be Law,

Where you will be Queen.

Don't leave me.

I will invent for you insane words

That you will understand.

I will speak to you of those Lovers

Who have known twice their hearts enflamed.

I will tell you the story of a King

Who died from not having been able to meet you.

Don't leave me.

People have often seen fires erupt again

From an ancient volcano

That they had thought too old.

It is apparently the scorched soils

That give more wheat than the best April.

And when the evening comes,

For the sky to blaze,

Do the Red and the Black not marry?

Don't leave me.

Don't leave me, I won't cry, I won't speak.

I'll hide over there, watching you dance and smile,

Listening to you sing and then laugh.

Let me become

The shadow of your shadow,

The shadow of your hand,

The shadow of your dog.

Don't leave me."