Ne me quitte pas - Jacques Brel - New English Translation

I have combined the earliest video version of this song (1959) with simply the best English translation of the lyrics - my own.

This is a work in progress as I keep adding internal rhymes and aiming for external rhymes. What started out as a literal translation has been refined into a syllable-for-syllable translation and is becoming more and more a singable English version. I will stop short of making an adaptation... That would be too easy.

Please don't go away
We must forget all
We can forget all
That's already past
Let's forget the times
We misunderstood
And the times we stood
Just wondering how
Let's forget the hours
Of wondering why
That poisoned our lives
And our happy ways
Please don't go away (4 times)

But I can offer you
Pearls made out of rain
Brought from far-off climes
Where it doesn't rain
I can dig the earth
Until past my death
Just to make you shine
In both gold and light
I'll found a domain
Where love shall be might
Where love shall be right
And only you will reign
Please don't go away (4 times)

Please don't go away
I'll invent for you
Words devoid of sense
Words you'll understand
I will tell about
Those great lovers two
Who saw both their hearts
Flower all anew
I will tell about
That unhappy king
Who... simply died
From never meeting you
Please don't go away (4 times)

You will often see
Fiery flames arise
From a mountainside
That was thought extinct
I heard tell of soils
Scorched though they may be
Bearing much more wheat
Than the best of springs
And in evening haze
If night didn't wed
With a sky of red
Would sunset even blaze?
Please don't go away (4 times)

Please don't go away
I won't weep again
I won't speak again
I will simply hide
Just to watch you dance
Just to watch you smile
Just to listen to
You sing and laugh
Just let me become
Shadow in the fog
Shadow of your hand
Shadow of your dog
Please don't go away
Please don't go away
Please don't go away
Please don't go away

© 2008 Benoit Racine