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The Little Garden

by Stéphanie Chasseloup

My friends, the story and the song are the same
I am going to tell you the most beautiful songs
About
the little wildflower (little flower of love shining on earth)
The introduction: Rodolphe, Aldo (and the night's falling...)
Here, the song begins, the song is coming
In my garden, there's the mail, there are my friends, the cashier working at Félix Potain
Il my garden, there's my dog, there's its kennel, there's its wine
In my garden, there are the pimps from Panoyaux Street, there are factories, there are garbage cans, there are the crooks of Courcelle street
In my garden, there are tourists, there are Martians, ladybugs and cockroaches, pigs, and rabbit cages
Me, I would like, one of these days, to have a flower in my garden
To have a flower in my garden
In my garden, there are planes, there are trains, there are controllers in the tunnel, highways and roads, there's the bike of my brother
In my garden, I would like to have a flower in my garden
To have a flower in my garden [x2]
In my garden, there are deserts without tomorrows, there are old men, there are kids, there are great fir forests, there are swells and drizzle
In my garden, there are millions of men in heat, there are pretty girls crying
In my garden, on a beautiful morning, there was a flower in my garden, there was a flower in my garden, there was a flower in my garden
Your little mouth, little flower, you open it like a little spark, it opens
Your little mouth, little flower, is beautiful, you look at the sun
In my garden, the pricks gather in heaps, there's no more place in my garbage can, there is everything, there is nothing
In my garden, there are dormitories, there are spittoons, there were even crematoriums once, there are hallways filled with pictures, people we will never forgive
In my garden, there is the sea over there, far away
It is beautiful this little flower, I adore it, it loves me, and it’s all sweet for you
Its little eyes, so little
One beautiful morning, there was a flower in my garden, I didn't see it
I walked on it, I didn't see it, but I would like
One beautiful morning, there was a flower in my garden, I didn't see it
I walked on it, I didn't see it, but I would like
One beautiful morning, there was a flower in my garden, I didn't see it
I walked on it, I didn't see it, but I would like

Manu Chao, “Le p’tit jardin”, from the record Sibérie m’était contéee, 2004;

10 suggested readings
JABER CROW
Wendell Berry, Counterpoint 2001
PERCHÉ SONO VEGETARIANO
Lev Tolstoj, Piano B edizioni 2016
PLAINSONG
Kent Haruf, Penguin 2000
I SIGNORI DEL CIBO
Stefano Liberti, Minimum fax 2016
IL RE DELL'UVETTA
Fredrik Sjoberg, Iperborea 2016
IL MIGLIORE AMICO DELL'ORSO
Arto Paasilinna, Iperborea 2009
THE EARTH BOOK
Jonathan Litton, Little Tiger Press 2017
SENZAPAROLE
Roger Olmos, #logosedizioni 2014
THE JUNGLE BOOKS
Rudyard Kipling, Oxford World’s Classics 2008
ROSE NELL'INSALATA
Bruno Munari, Edizioni Corraini 2016