Madame V
begins the lesson
by reading aloud the first stanza
of a famous French poem:


Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui penetre mon coeur?


Then she looks up
and without any warning
she calls on me to translate it.
I swallow hard, and try:

"It's raining in my heart
like it's raining in the city.
What is this sadness
that pierces my heart?"

Saying these words out loud,
right in front of the whole class,
makes me feel
like I'm not wearing any clothes.

Auteur: Sonya Sones