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Under the Umbrella

inspired by “Le Parapluie” (“The Umbrella”)
by Georges Brassens (1921-1981)

Rain fell in waves throughout the street;
A woman walked with no umbrella.
I offered mine; in voice real sweet,
She answered, “Thank you, sir. I’m Stella.”
She dried her young, angelic face
Under my umbrella space.

I stood with Stella, side by side.
We heard the rain sing a capella,
A pretty choir chant outside,
Atop the roof of my umbrella.
Oh, for forty days together
To hear the concert of the weather!

Yet sadly, even in a storm,
Midnight strikes for Cinderella.
Rain stops, roads go, and that’s the norm.
Foolishly, I’d hoped that Stella
Would stay; instead, she went her way,
Shrinking as she walked away.

previously published in New English Review

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French text of Brassens’ poem (note that the poem above is not a direct translation but is only inspired by the below song)

Le Parapluie

Il pleuvait fort sur la grand’ route
Eli’ cheminait sans parapluie
J’en avais un, volé sans doute
Le matin même à un ami.
Courant alors à sa rescousse
Je lui propose un peu d’abri,
En séchant l’eau de sa frimousse
D’un air très doux ell’ m’a dit «oui.»

Refrain:

Un p’tit coin d’ parapluie
Contre un coin d’ Paradis
Elle avait quelque chos’ d’un ange,
Un p’tit coin d’ Paradis
Contre un coin d’ parapluie
Je n’ perdais pas au change, pardi !

Chemin faisant, que ce fut tendre
D’ouïr à deux le chant joli
Que l’eau du ciel faisait entendre
Sur le toit de mon parapluie !
J’aurais voulu comme au déluge
Voir sans arrêt tomber la pluie,
Pour la garder sous mon refuge
Quarante jours, quarante nuits.

(Refrain)

Mais bêtement, même en orage,
Les routes vont vers des pays.
Bientôt le sien fit un barrage
A l’horizon de ma folie.
Il a fallu qu’elle me quitte,
Après m’avoir dit grand merci,
Et je l’ai vue toute petite
Partir gaiement vers mon oubli.

(Refrain)

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Joshua C. Frank works in the field of statistics and lives in the American Heartland.  His poetry has also been published in Snakeskin, The Lyric, Sparks of Calliope, Westward Quarterly, New English Review, and many others, and his short fiction has been published in several journals as well.

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23 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Your poem reminded me of the old movie, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” because of the French connection. I also remember the old song by the Hollies with the words, “Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows under my umbrella. I am also reminded of special moments under various circumstances that were unrequited but could have led to something if only I were bolder. Your poem jump started my day.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Roy. I just read the lyrics of “Bus Stop.” It’s interesting to see the difference. The bubblegum form implies a happy ending, while Brassens gave us a more realistic ending. Also, I looked up The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and apparently it, too, shows “a young romance succumbing to the stark realities of life and the inevitability of growing up,” to quote a critic’s review.

      Myself, I like that the French are more open to writing true-to life stories, as opposed to feel-good stories with the Mega-Happy Ending (bonus points if you know what movie I’m referencing with that name).

      Reply
  2. Jeremiah Johnson

    “We heard the rain sing a capella,
    A pretty choir chant outside,
    Atop the roof of my umbrella.”

    What a fun rhyme!

    I like the way your meter strolls along with an intentional awkwardness, capturing the cheerful despair of the story. And the metaphor of a concert in that second stanza which you develop so well.

    You remind me of a moment in my college days (20 years ago or so) when I was standing with an attractive classmate under an awning. None of us had an umbrella, and, just then, the dean of students came by holding one open umbrella with another folded one under his arm. I asked him if I could borrow it, and he said yes, and the girl, who thought that was a bit bold of me, let me walk her back to her dormitory. I felt like the cock of the walk, but of course nothing more ever came of it 🙂

    And, since Roy threw out a song reference, I’ll share one too:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC2Fu20X_KY

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Jeremiah. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Interesting that you had a similar story! I love that Cascades song, too.

      Reply
  3. Brian A. Yapko

    Josh, this is an absolutely charming poem inspired by the Brassens piece. The story describes the hopes and then disappointment of young love and I think the name choice “Stella” is quite inspired — not because it rhymes with umbrella (you could have selected Bella, Ella or Della) so much as because the name means “star” in Latin — a perfect name to capture an out-of-reach longing.

    Your poem is “inspired by” Brassens and, to some degree, borrows the original story. I have encountered several poems inspired by other poems on SCP and elsewhere (I myself have done that with William Blake’s “The Tyger” and Robert Burns “Afton Waters.) It’s clearly not parody nor would I describe it as pastiche. I would love to know the literary term for such an homage poem or a variation-on-a-theme poem. A couple of sites which strike me as contemporary-loving (and therefore suspect) describe such a poem as an “after-poem.” I wonder if that’s truly a recognized term and if the definition addresses the type of literature I describe?

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Brian! Yes, that’s exactly why I chose Stella as opposed to any of the other names you list.

      I was so taken by the story of the original poem (it was such a relief to hear something realistic after a steady diet of Disney-like movie endings) that I had to write the concept myself.

      I agree, it’s different from a parody or pastiche, and I’ve written both of those. I’d love to know the name of that kind of poem, too… myself, I would borrow the filmmaking term “remake,” as the concept of what I’ve done is similar to the American movie Jungle 2 Jungle being a remake of the French movie Un Indien dans la Ville.

      Reply
  4. Daniel Kemper

    It reminds me of the way that “Blade Runner,” was an “after film” (to borrow Brian’s term) of “Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep.” Based on. So much better. Substantially different. You know the ancient Greek myths got re-written often and stories taken in different directions, too. You’d think there was a term.

    Anyway, this piece stands alone and is awesome. Rhyme and flow are wonderful, the diction is marvelous both for the sounds maintained and for their communication by inference and association. Really great song/poem here!

    Also reminds me of another walking in the rain poem, though substantially different in tone…

    Rappele-toi Barbara?
    Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-là
    Et tu marchais souriante
    É panouie ravie ruisselante
    Sous la pluie…

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Daniel. That’s quite a compliment! As I mentioned to Brian, I would call it a remake.

      I read the poem you quoted: “Rappele-toi Barbara?” by Jacques Prévert (1900-1977), a contemporary of Brassens. That poem takes the concept in quite a different direction!

      Interesting fact: Brassens once mentioned Prévert by name in a song (“Le Vingt-Deux de September”) in which he alluded to Prévert’s poems “Les Feuilles Mortes” and “Chanson des Escargots qui Vont à L’Enterrement.” Here’s the relevant passage:

      On ne reverra plus au temps des feuilles mortes,
      Cette âme en peine qui me ressemble et qui porte
      Le deuil de chaque feuille en souvenir de vous…
      Que le brave Prévert et ses escargots veuillent
      Bien se passer de moi pour enterrer les feuilles:
      Le vingt-deux de septembre, aujourd’hui, je m’en fous.

      My translation:

      No more in the season of dead, fallen leaves
      Shall we see this poor soul who resembles me, grieves
      With the grief of each leaf, for you in memoriam…
      Though the good Jacques Prévert and his snails may desire
      To mock me for burying leaves that expire,
      The twenty-second, today, I just don’t give a damn.

      Reply
      • Daniel Kemper

        I really like the way you think when you translate. You have the essential knack down. Whether by intuition, training, or both, you seem to adjust the “sliding window size” if I may for what to translate. Sometimes it’s a single word or even a few that can go word-for-word, other times backing it out to a larger window and seeing what an entire phrase or passage amounts to and then translating that as a unified chunk. Very impressive.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        Thank you, Daniel. That’s quite a compliment.

        I think part of it is understanding rhyme and meter in both French and English; many translations are accurate but show no understanding of the mechanics of poetry. My aim in translating is to write what the original poet would have written in English if he were a native English speaker using the same form as in the original French.

  5. Paul A. Freeman

    What a lovely poem, jauntily rolling off the tongue, with a sort of Sense and Sensibility innocence about it.

    I love the picture of the snickering siblings and the chaperone in tow!

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  6. Julian D. Woodruff

    The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of maybe dozens of old (and old-fashioned) scenes, songs and movies Joshua’s poem might bring to mind. Here’s what occurred to me (one of Berlin’s most interesting): Isn’t it a lovely day to be caught in the rain? / You were.going on your way, now you’ve got to remain …”

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Julian. It’s interesting to see how many times this theme has been explored in American popular songs, but always with a happy ending.

      Reply
  7. Joseph S. Salemi

    Most of us Americans only know a celebrated few of popular French singers: Piaf, Aznavour, Chevalier, and Mistinguett. Thank you for bringing Georges Brassens to our attention. Your poem is a nice tip-of-the-hat to the original French song.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Joe. Brassens is one of my major influences, along with Frost, Wordsworth, and Browning. I rarely meet anyone in the United States who knows who he is except through me.

      A few people have sung his songs in English (“Brother Gorilla” by Jake Thackray is the most famous of these translations), but none of them seem to have any grasp of real classical English-language poetry. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Brassens wrote within classical French poetic conventions. Furthermore, he managed to write in strict form while sounding as natural as if he weren’t using form at all—I’d love to be able to write like him!

      Reply
  8. Cynthia Erlandson

    This is a very fun poem, partly due to the great umbrella rhymes, and partly your description of the situation. Every line of the second stanza, especially, along with the next two lines about Cinderella, are wonderful.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you Cynthia! I had to get creative because there are not a lot of words that rhyme with “umbrella.” In French, tons of words rhyme with “parapluie” (because French doesn’t do stress like in English) and in the original poem, every other line ended with such a word.

      Reply
  9. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Josh, what a beautiful, Brassens-inspired poem that captures one of those marvelous moments in life that lives in the memory for years. I especially like the second stanza… it lifted me to heights beyond the humdrum with its sensuous musicality, before the back-down-to-earth parting in the closing lines. Coming from a country that rains at the drop of a hat, umbrella moments are dear to my heart and this poem checks all the umbrella boxes – I love it!

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you Susan! I’m glad you love it so much. That tells me I did a good job rendering the concept as an English-language poem.

      Reply
  10. Adam Sedia

    You give us touching and bittersweet song that gives us a snapshot of internal reflections on an intimate moment — a dramatic monologue of sorts, but more a song because it is so musical (your acknowledgement of Brassens is I think just a hat-tip; your work stands on its own). The rhyming of “Stella” throughout the poem is a skillful move, well executed.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Adam. Yes, it’s intended as a hat-tip; what I aimed to do was write my own “romance nipped in the bud when the rain ends” poem, just as different poets have written about (for example) the beauty of the same night sky, but it felt wrong to do so without acknowledging Brassens.

      Reply

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