French songs and the road to Home

In 2 months, I'll be back home. Not for long, because I'm heading to Ireland a few weeks after.
At some points I got sort of sick of China, everything was annoying me, the people, the behavior, the language, the food... It was a kind of sign that I needed to go home. Now I'm good again, I like China, people are nice, etc. :D
A strange thing happened to me too, I usually hate French songs. I really do, but being away from home made me wanna listen to it.

I was in the subway the other day, listening to Jacques Brel (Ok, ok, I'm not really up-to-date, he's an old singer) and I really became homesick.
I was listening to "Le plat pays" (The flat land). It's a song describing my country, Belgium. My whole life, I only thought about running away from Belgium, discovering the world, living in exciting places and all but still. At that point, I wanted to jump in a plane and be at home, with my grey sky, my green garden, the little spring we have in the back of the garden, the ponds, the flowers.etc.
I know that once there, I'll only think of getting out again though !
I've also been nostalgic thanks to "The road to home" from Amy McDonalds, you should listen to those 2 !

Anyway, "Le plat pays" is, I think, the best description of Belgium ever, so I wanted to share it with others ! It's a poem in French, quite hard to understand actually (even for French-speakers I mean, like me !), he plays with words.

Avec la mer du Nord pour dernier terrain vague
With the North See as a last wasteland,

Et des vagues de dunes pour arrêter les vagues
and waves of dunes to stop the waves,

Et de vagues rochers que les marées dépassent
and indistinct rocks which the tides overrun

Et qui ont à jamais le cœur à marée basse
and whose hearts forever remain at low ebb...

Avec infiniment de brumes à venir
With an infinity of mists to come...

Avec le vent de l'est écoutez-le tenir
When the wind is from the East, listen how it fights -

Le plat pays qui est le mien
this flat land of mine...


Avec des cathédrales pour uniques montagnes
With cathedrals for sole mountains,

Et de noirs clochers comme mâts de cocagne
and black church-steeples for may-poles,

Où des diables en pierre décrochent les nuages
where devils of stone grope for the clouds...
[the gargoyles you can find on top of churches]

Avec le fil des jours pour unique voyage
With the succession of days as its only journey

Et des chemins de pluie pour unique bonsoir
and rain-drenched roads as its only goodnight...
[it rains very often in Belgium, like 360days out of 365 !]

Avec le vent d'ouest écoutez-le vouloir
When the wind is from the West, listen how it pines -

Le plat pays qui est le mien
this flat land of mine...


Avec un ciel si bas qu'un canal s'est perdu
With a sky so low that a canal has got lost,
[in Belgium, the typical color of the sky is greyish, like the color of water]

Avec un ciel si bas qu'il fait l'humilité
with a sky so low that it fakes humility,

Avec un ciel si gris qu'un canal s'est pendu
with a sky so grey that a canal has hanged himself,
[the grey sky is kind of depressing]

Avec un ciel si gris qu'il faut lui pardonner
with a sky so grey that he must be forgiven...

Avec le vent du nord qui vient s'écarteler
When the Northern gales come blasting down...

Avec le vent du nord écoutez-le craquer
When the wind is from the North... listen how it creaks -

Le plat pays qui est le mien
this flat land of mine...

Avec de l'Italie qui descendrait l'Escaut
With a touch of Italy flowing down the Schelde,
[= reference to all the Italian immigrants in Belgium]

Avec Frida la Blonde quand elle devient Margot
when Frieda the Fair turns into Margot
[= mix of culture :it means when a Flemish girl(Frieda) plays "Margot" in a French play; we all interact together in Belgium OR frigid Frieda when she becomes a "femme fatale"]

Quand les fils de novembre nous reviennent en mai
when the sons of November return to us in May,
[written in 1961, the military service was 18months. Usually it started in November and ended in May 2 years later OR the migrant workers unemployed from Nov to May]

Quand la plaine est fumante et tremble sous juillet
when the plains smoke and tremble under July,
[in Belgium, July and August are the hottests, he's talking about the big plains characteristic of Belgium; "trembe" because of the heat and the harvest time]

Quand le vent est au rire, quand le vent est au blé
when the wind is to laughter, when the wind is to wheat,
[laughter = time to relax; to wheat : time to work]

Quand le vent est au sud, écoutez-le chanter
when the wind is from the South, listen how it sings -

Le plat pays qui est le mien.
this flat land of mine...


I'm done !