[I have written a few pieces in French, or partly in French, but this is the only one to be based on a play on French words. Translation and explanation follows the poem.]
Je ne voudrais jamais
t'embarrasser,
mais ...
si le verbe avait deux lettres de moins,
je ne pourrais en toute vérité
jurer le même.
Et puisque le second de ces cas
impliquerait fatalement le premier,
je me trouve dans une position
impossible.
Autre exemple des ambitions,
espoirs,
désirs,
rêves
qu'il vaut mieux
ne pas exprimer.
---------------
I would never want
to embarrass you,
but ....
if the verb (in French) lost a couple of letters (^)
I could not in all honesty
swear to the same.
And since the second of these cases
would unfailingly lead to the first, (^^)
I am placed in
an impossible position.
Another example of the ambitions,
hopes,
desires,
dreams ...
that it is preferable
to leave unexpressed.
-----------
(^) i.e., if "embarrasser" (to embarrass) became "embrasser" (to kiss).
(^^) i.e., kissing would lead to embarrassment.
Embrasser, curiously enough, doesn't mean "to embrace". And whilst "a kiss" is "un baiser", the verb "baiser" means somewhat more than "to kiss"! Still, we all know that words are curious things.
Jul 26, 2016
Jul 26, 2016 at 2:53 PM UTC
[I have written a few pieces in French, or partly in French, but this is the only one to be based on a play on French words. Translation and explanation follows the poem.]
Je ne voudrais jamais
t'embarrasser,
mais ...
si le verbe avait deux lettres de moins,
je ne pourrais en toute vérité
jurer le même.
Et puisque le second de ces cas
impliquerait fatalement le premier,
je me trouve dans une position
impossible.
Autre exemple des ambitions,
espoirs,
désirs,
rêves
qu'il vaut mieux
ne pas exprimer.
---------------
I would never want
to embarrass you,
but ....
if the verb (in French) lost a couple of letters (^)
I could not in all honesty
swear to the same.
And since the second of these cases
would unfailingly lead to the first, (^^)
I am placed in
an impossible position.
Another example of the ambitions,
hopes,
desires,
dreams ...
that it is preferable
to leave unexpressed.
-----------
(^) i.e., if "embarrasser" (to embarrass) became "embrasser" (to kiss).
(^^) i.e., kissing would lead to embarrassment.
Embrasser, curiously enough, doesn't mean "to embrace". And whilst "a kiss" is "un baiser", the verb "baiser" means somewhat more than "to kiss"! Still, we all know that words are curious things.
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