Google Translate / Poppies
Leanna Firestone
You took Spanish in high school, but I took French
So when you're tired and delirious at almost 2am
You type sentences into Google Translate
And then you send them to me
Je pense que Lea est tres jolie
I don't think you know just how much it means to me
To watch you try to call me pretty
In a language I know that you can't speak
You told me you didn't remember sh*t from Spanish class
You didn't know how you passed but you did
So even if I wanted to call you pretty back in your high school
Foreign language neither one of us would know what I said
So I'll stick to French
Je pense que tu es tres jolie aussi
I think you're pretty too
In a language that you still don't speak
Then I said
Je t'aime
Je t'aime
Je t'aime
Over and over again
A confession in French
Because I knew you wouldn't know what it meant
I know that you don't fall as easily as I do
So I won't press my luck, and say it in words you'll understand
I'm too scared that if I tell you I love you
Te Amo, I'd never get to hear you call me tres jolie again
You took Spanish in high school, but I took french
I'm in college now and it's been four years since then
But I knew exactly what you said when you had sent
Je pense que Lea est tres jolie, you copied and you pasted
But it meant everything to me
To watch you try to call me pretty in a language you can't speak
I almost packed that painting I made
I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to throw it away
But I didn't then it would sit in the closet at my new house
The same way that it did in my old apartment
In the dark and face down
Poppies are my favorite they burn red just like you
I know that you hate flowers
I thought I could convince you not to
If you saw the time it took
Read that painting like your favorite book
They both die in the end, and I guess what we had did too
The background is colored with a poem you wrote
No painting of poppies could ever be as perfect
Or as pretty as the words
You spoke to me like at 2 AM, translating your sentences
Do you still think I'm tres jolie
Now that you just want to be friends?