Dearest friend, what is the use

Text by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Translated into English by Joseph Massaad 

deutsch - français


Dearest friend, what is the use
Of repeating the old refrains?
Will you forever choose
To sit on old love's remains?

Ah! It needs constant watching:
The chicks rise from the shell,
They start chucking and fluttering,
And a book becomes their cell.