Mlle

<br>&quot;ces quelques pas du palier a la chambre dalbertine, ces<br><br>Quelques pas que person ne ne pouvait plus arreter, je les fis avec<br><br>Delices, avec prudence, comme plonge dans un element<br><br>Nouveau, comme si en avancant javais lentement deplace<br><br>Du bonheur, et en meme temps avec un sentiment inconnu de<br><br>Toute-puissance, et dentrer enfin dans un heritage qui<br><br>Meut de tout temps appartenu.&quot;*<br><br><br><br>A winters night<br><br>The northern quay<br><br>The isle of dogs<br><br>The rabid one is me<br><br>You sip your drink<br><br>Undismayed<br><br>And I just said<br><br>&quot;these days my heart seems to be a kind of hand grenade&quot;<br><br><br><br>Nothing in the air tugs at the tower blocks<br><br>As you raise your finger and pull the pin<br><br>Nothing much on earth moves down these desolating docks<br><br>Do you really think you just scratched your chin? <br><br><br><br>But you were never albertine<br><br>And I was never poor marcel<br><br>Who were you that time round,<br><br>Mademoiselle? <br><br><br><br>Monsieur a peur du parfum des princesses<br><br><br><br>And now I act up<br><br>And youve a winning frown<br><br>Ive contracted love<br><br>As Im devoured down<br><br>Blame my deadening intensity<br><br>And tell me how you got the part in this<br><br>My own illicit agony<br><br><br><br>I lay it on pretty thick<br><br>You spread yourself pretty thin<br><br>Ducking and dividing under every skin<br><br>And my final words as you get up and leave<br><br>&quot;if youre free as air, I dont want to breathe&quot;<br><br><br><br>Good evening,<br><br>I am the madman in love with your daughter<br><br>We need to talk<br><br>Just you and me<br><br>I saw her last in eden<br><br>Or some other far eastern quarter<br><br>Where the river snakes its way out to sea<br><br><br><br>But you were never albertine<br><br>And I was never poor marcel<br><br>Who were you that time round,<br><br>Mademoiselle? <br><br><br><br>* marcel proust - a lombre des jeunes filles en fleurs<br><br><br><br>Those few steps from the landing to albertines door,<br><br>Those few steps which no one now could prevent my<br><br>Taking, I took with delight, with prudence, as though<br><br>Plunged into a new and strange element, as if in going<br><br>Forward I had been gently displacing the liquid stream<br><br>Of happiness, and at the same time with a strange feeling<br><br>Of absolute power, and of entering at length into an<br><br>Inheritance which had belonged to me from all time.<br><br><br><br>Translated by c k scott moncrieff