Le coureur

I was running on the sheltered beach from the trade winds
A race with the waves, just an old score to settle
Barefoot like my ancestors used to run
Oh, I saw well behind his glasses
A guy with a stopwatch

I came back in the evening when the waves gave up
It was already late but my parents were waiting
There was the weird man at the table
My mother with a tear, a whisper
Dollars and their signature

I took the big white plane on Monday
That we watched disappear into infinity
I arrived in the cold of the cities
Among tourists and cars
Far from my old life

They touched me, measured me like a horse
I ran on a treadmill, peed in a jar
Breathed into a mask with all my strength
Accelerated with electrodes
To go where it hurt too much

They put a number on my back
There were people shouting, flags
We kept running in circles
Nails on both feet to scratch the earth
I used to caress it

I learned to lose, to win over others and time
With a gun, racing in training
The strange caresses of the crowd, the podiums
And the elbows
The passions, the world, and the money

I was running on my sheltered beach from the trade winds
A race with the waves, just an old score to settle
Then fate crossed my life
I'm a stranger everywhere today
Was it a curse, a blessing?
That's how it is