Childhood Memories...

The power of words and music, the power of memories and love...
The pain never goes away.
No one else could have said it better than Barbara.

Il ne faut jamais revenir
aux temps cachés des souvenirs
du temps béni de son enfance.
Car parmi tous les souvenirs
ceux de l'enfance sont les pires,
ceux de l'enfance nous déchirent.

Oh ma très chérie, oh ma mère,
où êtes-vous donc aujourd'hui?
Vous dormez au chaud de la terre.
Et moi je suis venue ici
pour y retrouver votre rire,
vos colères et votre jeunesse.
Et je suis seule avec ma détresse.

Hélas
Pourquoi suis-je donc revenue
et seule au détour de ces rues?
J'ai froid, j'ai peur, le soir se penche.
Pourquoi suis-je venue ici,
où mon passé me crucifie?
Elle dort à jamais mon enfance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP6EwJpKSiI

October poems...

I can't believe it's one year today since I became a published author and my debut historical romance ANGEL HEART was released by Canadian publisher MuseitUp Publishing.

I dreamt of that day for so long, and at times despaired it would ever happen.

One year on, and I still have the same feeling of pride and disbelief when I look at the cover and tell myself that it is true, I have published not one, but two novels!


But if October now reminds me of the publication of my first novel, it is also melancholic...It's the approach of winter with dead leaves swirling in blustery winds and darkening skies.

Whenever I think of Autumn poems, Paul Verlaine's 'Chanson d'Automne' always springs to my mind first.

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur
D’une langueur
Monotone.

I also love 'L'Automne' by Alphonse de Lamartine

Je suis d’un pas rêveur le sentier solitaire,
J’aime à revoir encor, pour la dernière fois,
Ce soleil pâlissant, dont la faible lumière
Perce à peine à mes pieds l’obscurité des bois !

Oui, dans ces jours d’automne où la nature expire,
A ses regards voilés, je trouve plus d’attraits,
C’est l’adieu d’un ami, c’est le dernier sourire
Des lèvres que la mort va fermer pour jamais !

But there is one song which above all others symbolises for me the melancholy of Autumn, and it's 'Les Feuilles Mortes' which was written by French poet Jacques Prévert in 1945. I always preferred Yves Montand's rendition of the song, even if many artists, including Edith Piaf, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra recorded their own version of it - and especially this clip from his concert at the Paris Olympia.

I remember showing this clip to my sixth-form French students one day we were talking about what they thought was 'boring old French music'. They were all in tears after watching this clip...

It always makes me cry too, but then again, I do tend to cry a lot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLlBOmDpn1s

I couldn't leave out the immensely talented Serge Gainsbourg, who pays tribute to the song in 'La Chanson de Prévert'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzuTdVJG-ck








 So what is October for you? If you have any favourite October poems or songs to share, I would love to read them.