« Demain (tomorrow) »
Âgé de cent mille ans, j’aurais encor la force A hundred thousand years old, I would still have the strength
De t’attendre, ô demain pressenti par l’espoir. To wait for you, oh tomorrow sensed by hope
Le temps, vieillard souffrant de multiples entorses, Time, an old man suffering from multiple sprains
Peut gémir : Le matin est neuf, neuf est le soir. May moan: Morning is new, nine is evening.
Mais depuis trop de mois nous vivons à la veille, But for too many months we have been living on the eve,
Nous veillons, nous gardons la lumière et le feu, We keep watch, we keep the light and the fire
Nous parlons à voix basse et nous tendons l’oreille We speak in low voices and we strain our ears
À maint bruit vite éteint et perdu comme au jeu. To many a noise quickly extinguished and lost as at play.
Or, du fond de la nuit, nous témoignons encore Now, from the bottom of the night, we still bear witness
De la splendeur du jour et de tous ses présents. To the splendour of the day and all its gifts.
Si nous ne dormons pas c’est pour guetter l’aurore If we do not sleep it is to watch for the dawn
Qui prouvera qu’enfin nous vivons au présent. Which will prove that we are finally living in the present.
- Demain, by Robert Desnos, was written during the french resistance against the nazis (1942)
- Each line has 12 syllables
- The ‘nous’ in lines 6 and 7 is referring to the resistance
- Whole poem = a message to the resistance to keep their hopes up
- Dawn and light is used as a metaphor to describe/talk about hope, freedom and life
- Thèmes = war (la guerre), Libération, l’amour pour la patrie (love for one's country/homeland)
- Tone = sérieux, colère (anger), espérer (hope)
Âgé de cent mille ans, j’aurais encor la force A hundred thousand years old, I would still have the strength
De t’attendre, ô demain pressenti par l’espoir. To wait for you, oh tomorrow sensed by hope
Le temps, vieillard souffrant de multiples entorses, Time, an old man suffering from multiple sprains
Peut gémir : Le matin est neuf, neuf est le soir. May moan: Morning is new, nine is evening.
Mais depuis trop de mois nous vivons à la veille, But for too many months we have been living on the eve,
Nous veillons, nous gardons la lumière et le feu, We keep watch, we keep the light and the fire
Nous parlons à voix basse et nous tendons l’oreille We speak in low voices and we strain our ears
À maint bruit vite éteint et perdu comme au jeu. To many a noise quickly extinguished and lost as at play.
Or, du fond de la nuit, nous témoignons encore Now, from the bottom of the night, we still bear witness
De la splendeur du jour et de tous ses présents. To the splendour of the day and all its gifts.
Si nous ne dormons pas c’est pour guetter l’aurore If we do not sleep it is to watch for the dawn
Qui prouvera qu’enfin nous vivons au présent. Which will prove that we are finally living in the present.
- Demain, by Robert Desnos, was written during the french resistance against the nazis (1942)
- Each line has 12 syllables
- The ‘nous’ in lines 6 and 7 is referring to the resistance
- Whole poem = a message to the resistance to keep their hopes up
- Dawn and light is used as a metaphor to describe/talk about hope, freedom and life
- Thèmes = war (la guerre), Libération, l’amour pour la patrie (love for one's country/homeland)
- Tone = sérieux, colère (anger), espérer (hope)
