President Jacques Chirac
Was laid to rest today and with him
The Europe we loved, the civility and elegance.
Democracy and decency when Paris
pulsed with life.
These days one has to get to the regions
To meet the real French
Paris has been taken over by foreign tongues
Whose demands are not French but
Adoption of the life they lived on
The hinterland, say Pakistan or Algeria
The hope they would integrate and become
Real Parisian was a dream too far.
We have to accept that the old ways are over
Moreover, who knows? It might be better.