Page 122 of Bastian

BASTIAN

SEPTEMBER

À la claire fontaine m'en allant promener

J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baignée.

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, jamais je ne t'oublierai

Sous les feuilles d'un chêne, je me suis fait sécher.

Sur la plus haute branche, un rossignol chantait.

Chante, rossignol, chante, toi qui as le cœur gai.

Tu as le cœur à rire… moi je l'ai à pleurer.

J'ai perdu mon ami sans l'avoir mérité,

Pour un bouquet de roses que je lui refusai…

Je voudrais que la rose fût encore au rosier,

Et que mon doux ami fût encore à m'aimer.

Darkness is all around me, covering me in it, but then when I feel myself walking away from the light, I hear it. The soft, melodic voice of an angel.

Have I died and gone to heaven? But that cannot be since men like me won’t ever see those pearly gates. More like the burning red ones, yet in this desolate darkness, the voice of an angel sings to me the French lullaby my mother used to sing to me every night before bed or when I was feeling rather clingy.

As I was walking by the clear fountain,

I found the water so lovely I had to bathe.

I've loved you for so long, I will never forget you

Under the oak’s leaves, I lay and dried.

On the highest bough, a nightingale sang.

Sing, nightingale, sing, you who has a joyous heart.

Your heart is made for laughing... mine can only cry.

I lost my love without deserving it,

Because of a bouquet of roses, I refused him...

I wish the rose were still in the bush,

And my sweetheart loved me still.

My angel with a sultry voice sings to me, and I have no choice but to follow. I walk in the dark until I see it. A bright light. Some would say I should stay away from the warm light, but my feet have a mind of their own, leading me closer to it.

Once I reach the light, the voice singing to me does not sound so far away, and my body is no longer freezing but…warmth takes over me.

“Sebastian…” the sweet voice of the angel leading me to my apparent death whispers. “Come back to me. Come back to us…”

“Daddy! Wake up. Super villains don’t sleep so long!”

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