"Speak White": The Poem

This one's going to look wordy, but really it isn't. After all, it's just the same poem twice...
Michèle Lalonde
Speak white

Speak white
il est si beau de vous entendre
parler de Paradise Lost
ou du profil gracieux et anonyme qui tremble dans les sonnets de Shakespeare

nous sommes un peuple inculte et bègue
mais ne sommes pas sourds au génie d'une langue
parlez avec l'accent de Milton et Byron et Shelley et Keats
speak white
et pardonnez-nous de n'avoir pour réponse
que les chants rauques de nos ancêtres
et le chagrin de Nelligan

speak white
parlez de choses et d'autres
parlez-nous de la Grande Charte
ou du monument à Lincoln
du charme gris de la Tamise
de l'eau rose du Potomac
parlez-nous de vos traditions
nous sommes un peuple peu brillant
mais fort capable d'apprécier
toute l'importance des crumpets
ou du Boston Tea Party

mais quand vous really speak white
quand vous get down to brass tacks

pour parler du gracious living
et parler du standard de vie
et de la Grande Société
un peu plus fort alors speak white
haussez vos voix de contremaîtres
nous sommes un peu durs d'oreille
nous vivons trop près des machines
et n'entendons que notre souffle au-dessus des outils

speak white and loud
qu'on vous entende
de Saint-Henri à Saint-Domingue
oui quelle admirable langue
pour embaucher
donner des ordres
fixer l'heure de la mort à l'ouvrage
et de la pause qui rafraîchit
et ravigote le dollar

speak white
tell us that God is a great big shot
and that we're paid to trust him
speak white
parlez-nous production profits et pourcentages
speak white
c'est une langue riche
pour acheter
mais pour se vendre
mais pour se vendre à perte d'âme
mais pour se vendre

ah !
speak white
big deal
mais pour vous dire
l'éternité d'un jour de grève
pour raconter
une vie de peuple-concierge
mais pour rentrer chez nous le soir
à l'heure où le soleil s'en vient crever au-dessus des ruelles
mais pour vous dire oui que le soleil se couche oui
chaque jour de nos vies à l'est de vos empires
rien ne vaut une langue à jurons
notre parlure pas très propre
tachée de cambouis et d'huile

speak white
soyez à l'aise dans vos mots
nous sommes un peuple rancunier
mais ne reprochons à personne
d'avoir le monopole
de la correction de langage

dans la langue douce de Shakespeare
avec l'accent de Longfellow
parlez un français pur et atrocement blanc
comme au Viêt-Nam au Congo
parlez un allemand impeccable
une étoile jaune entre les dents
parlez russe parlez rappel à l'ordre parlez répression
speak white
c'est une langue universelle
nous sommes nés pour la comprendre
avec ses mots lacrymogènes
avec ses mots matraques

speak white
tell us again about Freedom and Democracy
nous savons que liberté est un mot noir
comme la misère est nègre
et comme le sang se mêle à la poussière des rues d'Alger ou de Little Rock

speak white
de Westminster à Washington relayez-vous
speak white comme à Wall Street
white comme à Watts
be civilized
et comprenez notre parler de circonstance
quand vous nous demandez poliment
how do you do
et nous entendez vous répondre
we're doing all right
we're doing fine
we
are not alone

nous savons
que nous ne sommes pas seuls.

And for those of us who don't speak French fluently, here is an English translation. Not as poetic as other versions I've seen, but more faithful to the text of the original... Portions in italics are in English in the original.

Michèle Lalonde
Speak White

Speak white
it is so nice to hear you
speak of Paradise Lost
and of the gracious and anonymous profile that trembles in Shakespeare's sonnets

we're an uncultured and stammering race
but we are not deaf to the genius of a language
speak with the accent of Milton and Byron and Shelley and Keats
speak white
and forgive us for only having as an answer
the raucous songs of our ancestors
and Nelligan's sorrows

speak white
talk about this and that
tell us about the Magna Carta
or the Lincoln Memorial
the grey charm of the Thames
the pink waters of the Potomac
tell us about your traditions
we don't really shine as a people
but we're quite capable of appreciating
all the significance of crumpets
or of the Boston Tea Party

but when you really speak white
when you get down to brass tacks

to talk about gracious living
and speak of the standard of living
and of the Great Society
a bit louder then speak white
raise your foremen's voices
we're a bit hard of hearing
we live too close to the machines
and we hear only the sound of our breath over the tools.

speak white and loud
let us hear you
from Saint-Henri to Saint-Domingue
yes what an admirable tongue
for hiring
giving orders
setting the time for working yourself to death
and for the break that refreshes
and invigorates the dollar

speak white
tell us that God is a great big shot
and that we're paid to trust him
speak white
talk to us of production profits and percentages
speak white
it's a rich langauge
for buying
but for selling oneself
but for selling your soul
but for selling oneself

ah!
speak white
big deal
but to tell you about
the eternity of a day on strike
to tell the story of
a life of a servant-people
but for us to come home at night
at the time that the sun snuffs itself out over the backstreets
but to tell you yes that the sun is setting yes
every day of our lives to the east of your empires
there's nothing to match a language of swearwords
our none-too-clean talking
greasy and oil-stained.

speak white
be easy in your words
we're a race that holds grudges
but we do not criticize anyone
for having a monopoly
on correcting language

in Shakespeare's soft tongue
with Longfellow's accent
speak a pure and atrociously white French
like in Vietnam in the Congo
speak impeccable German
a yellow star between your teeth
speak Russian speak call to order speak repression
speak white
it is a universal language
we were born to understand it
with its teargas words
with its nightstick words

speak white
tell us again about Freedom and Democracy
we know that liberty is a black word
just as poverty is black
and just as blood mixes with dust in the steets of Algiers and Little Rock

speak white
from Westminster to Washington take it in turn
speak white like on Wall Street
white like in Watts
be civilized
and understand our make-do talking
when you ask us politely
how do you do
and you hear us say
we're doing all right
we're doing fine
we
are not alone

we know
that we are not alone

No pic this time, but a few next time.