There was I busily scribbling away at something when the email pinged yet again. Two minutes later I am sitting with tears streaming down my cheeks, listening to a song I never thought to hear again. This is not just any song. This is one that was written nearly thirty years ago. By my husband. It is very special and he sent it to me tonight, after all this time, rerecorded because I loved this one. The music is very beautiful.. I wish I could share it with you. To hear him sing it again after all these years moves me deeply.

It takes me back to the Bar 31  in Porto Vecchio, Corsica where he sang ‘Suzanne’ that first night. To a night full of the scent of mimosa, shooting stars in the sky and the sound of the surf on the sand. I remember dancing as the saxophone played.

I recall the 600 mile trips to see each other, the first tiny flat we shared, no more than a room. I remember selling flowers, jam sessions with Armand, the night Jean-François opened the restaurant just for us, crazy golf beside the Allier.

I can hear the music and laughter, the frogs on the wedding cake that my grandfather made, the guitar tucked up in our marriage bed that night.

I recall the Bohemian lifestyle, days in the sun, the miracle of the sons born of love. And the heartache that led to goodbye.

The song tells of the love of a girl for the high places, a girl with a shepherd’s heart. It tells of tender heather, sparkling streams and silent rocks hung in the clouds. It speaks of a communion with the heavens that becomes a pure crystal in her being, which nothing can disturb as she is dazzled by the discovery of Life. It tells how her soul is dressed in cold as she goes down to the town that kills the closeness and magic with its scythe. Yet nothing can replace what she has found on high.

It says that there will always be, in the memory of man, a girl who no one sees, or who they will think is of no interest. But the girl with the shepherd’s heart will dream tonight of all that can be changed, of all that is, in her heart, true freedom.

That is what the words mean. Most of all it tells a love story decades old, that brought joy. For a little while.

Il était une fois

Sur la colline, de là-haut elle domine

Et le monde est pour elle

La bruyère tendre, le chant d’un oiseau

Un ruisseau qui étincelle

La mousse fine, le vent et les racines

Le crachin au visage

Silence de pierre, de muets rochers

Accrochés  dans les nuages

Et la fille au cœur de berger

Cette nuit va rêver

A tous ce qui peut changer

La solitude n’est pas dure à porter

Pour la fille au cœur de berger.

En communion avec le ciel des anges

Quelque chose d’étrange

Devient dans son être

Comme un pur cristal

Que plus rien, rien ne dérange

Toute éblouie de découvrir la vie

Elle descend vers la ville

Qui tuerait le charme

La complicité, la beauté de sa faucille

Mais  la fille au cœur de berger

Cette nuit va rêver

A tous ce qui peut changer

A tous ce qui est la vraie liberté

Pour la fille au cœur de berger

Mais en bas son âme s’habille de froid

Malgré  les autres et je crois

Que rien ne remplacera

Ce qu’il y a en haut

Y’aura toujours dans la mémoire des hommes

Une fille que personne ne regardera

Ou l’on pensera qu’elle n’est pas intéressante

Mais  la fille au cœur de berger

Cette nuit va rêver

A tous ce qui peut changer

A tous ce qui est la vraie liberté

Pour la fille au cœur de berger

Paroles et musique©Joel Verron