THINKING OF JACQUES PRÉVERT AND JOSEPH KOSMA Poem by Remco Campert

It was raining sunlight
that day in the Gare du Nord
when you came to me

we hugged each other
you said you felt so happy
I knew where the bus

no. 26 that would take us
through Belleville's busy streets
to where you liked to be

the Rue des Pyrénées
where I said ‘obrigado'
to the concierge

where you could leave your bag
and wash your hair
and ask what next

It was raining sunlight
that day in the Gare du Nord
when you came to me.

You'd work to do and an address
films about oppressed peoples
far from Abbesses

which could safely be seen
in an art movie house
far from the masses

Court Saint-Louis
that's where you had to be
straight after lunch

in Popincourt eleventh district
you put on your new shoes
we crossed Père-Lachaise

It was raining sunlight
that day in the Gare du Nord
when you came to me.
Much later in streets
full of rubble and potholes
in Ménilmontant

I tried to tell you
about the ravages of time
and how despite all the heart

but you squeezed my hand
and said someone else
and that things were as they were

It was raining sunlight
that day in the Gare du Nord
when you came to me.

Oh! the leaves they have died
and our footsteps have faded
all I have is that tune.