The poem that launched D-Day for the French Resistance. For the whole story, click this link!
"Chanson d'automne" ("Autumn Song")
by Paul Verlaine (1844–1896)
The long sobs
Of violins
Of autumn
Wound my heart
With a monotonous
Languor.
All breathless
And pale, when
The hour sounds,
I remember
The old days
And I cry;
And I go
In the ill wind
That carries me
Here, there,
Like the
Dead leaf.
June 1st 1944 the BBC broadcast the first three lines.
Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l'automne
The long sobs
Of violins
Of autumn.
The next three lines were broadcast on June 5th to confirm the landing.
Blessent mon coeur
D'une langueur
Monotone
My heart drowns
With a languor
In the unchanging sound.
