America, Jack, and the Road (2) Poem by Claude Beausoleil

Where the agonies crack
Lives a man who attacks
Hegemony, madness
Rejection, taboos
A man standing tall
A dreamer facing the screen
Of stars and of wind
You repeat the words
On the road forever
You repeat he spoke French
Like you do
And that he's from America, too
From Quebec, from Bretagne
From elsewhere and the hollows of here
In you as well repeating his words
On the road
On the road
On the road forever

In his footsteps America
Hangs its wild dreams
On the back of the mix
Of minds cancelled out
By the gears of a hell consumed

You repeat and you say
That the way is a word
That takes root in you
On the road you repeat
You
Are
Like
Him
Child of an America
Which is written in French
And gives to its dreams
A rhythmical style
Jazzing the trip
Through America
From Montreal to L.A.
From Lowell to the coast
In the accents of youth
The sounds of today
Improvised on the road
On America's roads
Where in French words
Life follows the life
Of a memory aflame
And wild in its ways

You repeat and you say
You repeat and you say
Happiness is life
You repeat and you say
Happiness is the flash
In the word Liberté

translated by by Suzanne Buffam