FILLE JOLIE
I see the tall apartments as we pass
We all shudder, slowing to a halt
The bus conductor turns and stares
As he stops to collect more fares
This stop-start ride is not his fault
The Place d’Etoile packed with cars
I am off to start a new school term
And almost ready to face the world
It’s 1960 and the times are changing
Career choices soon need arranging
As a young woman, not just a girl
And my independence I do affirm
I will stay to work in this exciting city
Paris also can offer varied recreation
My parents still living up in Normandy
Little villages always full of bonhomie
But my future is more than anticipation
And Gilles said he thought me pretty
The bus has almost reached Pont Neuf
Now yet another day of boring lessons
See the grown up people sitting here
Not everyone has varied lives, I fear
I just hope I’ll make good impressions
Whether as an aristocrat or mere serf
My country is the beautiful sun
My country is not the hard winter
My country is an often green Eden
Always languid and tropical at dawn.
It’s a country where the crowing of roosters
Revives everybody every morning
It’s a country furnished with filthy slush and rocks
Where nature is a vast and miserable garden.
It's a country full of horrid stories
Where slaves and decent people are revolted
Against greedy settlers and bloody buccaneers
It’s where only macabre memories exist.
In this awful and morose atmosphere
Where I banter all that is negative
I will build positive monuments
I will dream and recite fables.
My country is the moonlight
Which gives hope and strength to fight
Against masked and zombified
Bogeymen. Oh! God, I hold no grudges.
My country is the ever positive imagination
Presently, I don't want to denounce anyone
However, I will silence the chiming bells
Oh! It's sad to see my people on the exodus
Near the evacuative shores.
P.S. Gilles Vigneault, this poem is
For you and our people.
Copyright © January 2023, Hébert Logerie, All rights reserved
Hébert Logerie is the author of several collections of poetry.
...........................And Did It “Our” Way
And who is anyone
Without regret
Nothing went wrong
Our ego said
So we are
Beyond reproach
So imperfectly perfect
And with nothing to forget
We’re never wrong
We just went along
With our ego
And so
The mistakes we made
If not our own
Then how do we evade
The sadness that we feel
Behind all the dreams
That seemed so real
And in all our time
And in all our schemes
And all the chances
We simply gave away
And all the loves
We wasted for another day
What can we say
We did it our way…………………..
And who is anyone
Without regret
What lessons have we learnt
In the years we have spent
For everyone learns
Through their ignorance
And everyone is born
In their innocence
“And through it all”
Our memories are clear
With all the things we did
And hide in fear
All the wrong turns
That we made
And all moments
In which we were saved
If we can say
We did it our way
We did our best
And yes
We even lived
With our
Regrets
( With full acknowledgment To Gilles Thibault; Paul Anka and Frank Sinatra )
( first draft.... to be edited )
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