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lyrics

(de l'oubli)
Certain plaisirs trop frais
pour donner toute leur saveur
ont besoin de fermenter
comme le jus du raisin
et de vieillir
dans les caves de notre mémoire.

On doutera désormais
si la délectation morose,
passée au tamis du temps,
n’est pas préférable au plaisir.
Elle en est le suc,
la liqueur perverse,
concentrée, épurée,
plus forte et plus durable.

Si tu préfères le vin blond
à la grappe hâlée
tu feras chaque saison
la vendange de tes souvenirs.
Et tu les boires sans hâte.

(about forgetting)
Certain pleasures too fresh
to produce all their flavour
need to ferment
like grape juice
and grow old
in the cellars of our memory.

From now on one will ponder
whether morose delight,
passed through the sieve of time
isn’t preferable to pleasure.
It is the juice of it,
the corrupted liquid
concentrated, purified,
stronger and more lasting.

If you prefer late wine
made from sunburned grapes,
each season you will make
the vintage of your memories.
And you will drink them at your leisure.

English trans. by Susan de Muth

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Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

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