Les vœux de Jacques Brel.

Les vœux de Jacques Brel, was  first broadcast on  Radio Europe 1, on January 1st 1968. (Below is an extract in translation) There are probably better translations. Watch Laurence Vielle read the full poem here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=870185194199263

I wish for you

I wish for you desire.

I wish you endless dreams and the furious desire to realize some of them.

I wish you to love what must be loved and to forget what needs to be forgotten.

I wish you passions, I wish you silences.

I wish you birdsong on awakening and the laughter of infants.

I wish you to respect the differences of others, because the worth and value of each are often to be discovered.

I wish you to resist entanglement, indifference and negative virtues of our time.

I wish you never to give up on the search, on adventure, on life, on love, because life is a magnificent adventure, and no reasonable person should give it up without fighting a tough battle.

.Above all, I wish you to be YOU, proud of it and happy, because happiness is our true destiny.

_____________

The Belgian singer-songwriter, Jacques Brel, dwelt fearlessly on love, death and desperate emotion in works that inspired countless artists. In many French schools, the words of Jacques Brel are studied for their perfection of composition.
"Jacques Brel was not at peace with himself. He had a permanent thirst for justice. When he was on the stage, he developed 200 volts. For me, he is always living, by his works. He has won against death." - Quotation from Guy Beart.