The Passers-By
((Adapted from: Les Passantes (by Georges Brassens) - 1972))
((Italian Version: Le Passanti (by Fabrizio de André) - 1974))
Composer(s): Georges Brassens - Antoine Pol - Andrew Kelly
Performer(s): Graeme Allwright - 1985



I sing you a song that I offer
To all the women you love for
A moment, a brief secret time
To those that you scarcely
Had met when
A different destiny led them
To places you can't even find

To her that you saw
For an instant
Appear at
Her window quite distant
Then suddenly vanish away
Her slim silhouette
A mere outline
So gracefully faded
For all time
But filled you with joy come
To stay

To her on a train
You were travelling
Whose beautiful eyes left you
marveling
And shortened
The journey so much
Perhaps
You alone understood her
you watched her get out
But you could not
Even give her soft hand
One light touch

To women already bespoken
Who find their life's
A mere token
With someone
That seems not to care
They once
In a moment of madness
Described the unbearable
Sadness
When life holds
Our only despair

The vision once
Glimpsed and idealized
The shortest-lived hopes
Never realized
Remains in our minds
Just one day
Whatever brief happiness
Takes you
The memory
Will quickly forsake you
Of those you once met
On your way

But feeling
Your life has been wasted
You wish with regret
That you'd tasted

And known-what
These joys might
Have been
The kisses
You dared not discover
The hearts that await
You forever
Those eyes and
Their glances unseen

When weariness lengthens
Your evenings
You people your solitude
Grieving
With phantoms
Your memory retains
You mourn absent
Lips of these countless
Fair passers-by briefly
Encountered
You didn't know how
To detain