Le testament

I will be sad like a willow
When the God who follows me everywhere
Tells me, hand on my shoulder
Go see up there if I'm there

Then, from the sky and the earth
I will have to mourn
Is the oak still standing
Or the fir of my coffin?
Is the oak still standing
Or the fir of my coffin?

If I have to go to the cemetery
I will take the longest path
I will play truant from the grave
I will leave life backwards

Too bad if the undertakers scold me
Too bad if they think I'm crazy
I want to go to the other world
By the schoolchildren's path
I want to go to the other world
By the schoolchildren's path

Before going to flirt
With the beautiful souls of the damned
I dream of another little love affair
I dream of putting on a petticoat again

Once again say I love you
Once again lose my way
Plucking the chrysanthemum
Which is the daisy of the dead
Plucking the chrysanthemum
Which is the daisy of the dead

God willing my widow will be alarmed
When burying her companion
And to make her shed tears
There will be no need for an onion

Let her take as a second husband
A husband like me
He can enjoy my boots
And my slippers and my clothes
He can enjoy my boots
And my slippers and my clothes

Let him drink my wine, let him love my wife
Let him smoke my pipe and my tobacco
But never - by my soul's death! -
Never let him whip my cats

Although I have not an atom
A shadow of wickedness
If he whips my cats, there is a ghost
Who will come to persecute him
If he whips my cats, there is a ghost
Who will come to persecute him

Here lies a dead leaf
Here ends my will
It has been marked on my door
Closed for the sake of burial

I left life without resentment
I will never have toothache again
Here I am in the common grave
The common grave of time
Here I am in the common grave
The common grave of time