Brooklynn Faichnie from Aboyne Academy

THINGS YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND  

 

Ils m’ont dit que le français était la langue de l’amour 

Alors, je t’aimerai en français. 

Je te dirai combien je t’aime 

Tes yeux; des mares de miel qui me font prendre du recul 

Au cas où je tomberais dedans. Je dirai n’importe quoi 

Au garçon aux yeux espiègles et aux cheveux 

qui ne peut jamais rester plat. 

Mais tu ne me comprends pas, 

Et mes mots tombent comme des murmures à tes pieds. 

  

Si tu ne m’entends pas, je peux parler plus fort. 

Si vous ne me comprenez pas, je peux changer. 

Voulez-vous que je change? 

  

Te amo en momentos que son ruidosos, 

A veces tan ruidoso que me ahogan. 

Pero se que no te gusta hablar, así que podemos 

Siéntate aquí en silencio 

Siempre que sepa que puedes oirme. 

En mis sueños te siento resbalar 

Intento aguantar, mantener mi agarre en la roca 

En medio el río. 

Pero te estás cayendo, y te estás ahogando y me dices que me amas. 

Se que me amas. 

Solo que no de la manera que yo quiero que lo hagas. 

Y aunque los sueños no pueden ser reales, 

Se sienten como si lo fueran. 

  

¿Es esto mejor? ¿Puedes escucharme ahora? 

Mis palabras flotan con reconocimiento? Tu mente tararea al comprender? 

No me estás dando nada. 

¿No entiendes algo? 

  

Mi hanno detto che l’amore ti rende stupide, 

Ma non ero mai stato così saggio. 

Forse è il sole nel tuo sorriso 

O la musica nelle tue risate 

O forse ti amo così tanto perché mi ami così poco. 

Provo a chiedere; “E tu? Che dire tu?” 

Ma tu non mi capisci. 

 

Je savais que ca allait faire mal, 

Que je ne pourrais jamais te laisser partir. 

  

Je ne sais pas comment t’aimer 

D’une certaine manière vous pouvez comprendre. 

  

Comprenez vous? 

 

 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 

THINGS YOU WON’T UNDERSTAND 

 

They told me that French was the language of love 

So I will love you in French. 

I will tell you how much I like you 

Your eyes; pools of honey that make me step back 

In case I fall in. I will tell anything 

To the boy with mischievous eyes and hair 

That can never stay flat. 

But you don’t understand me, 

And my words fall like whispers at your feet. 

  

If you can’t hear me, I can speak louder. 

If you can’t understand me, I can change. 

Do you want me to change? 

  

I love you in moments that are loud, 

Sometimes so loud that they drown me out. 

But I know that you don’t like talking, so we can sit here in silence 

As long as I know you can hear me. 

In my dreams, I feel you slipping 

I try to hold on, to keep my grip on the rock 

In the middle of the river. 

But you’re falling, and you’re drowning, and you tell me that you love me. 

I know that you love me 

Just not in the way that I want you to. 

And although dreams cannot be real, 

They feel as though they are. 

 

 

Is this better? Can you hear me now? 

Do my words float with recognition? Does your mind hum in understanding? 

You’re giving me nothing. 

Don’t you understand something? 

  

They told me love will make you foolish, 

But I had never been that wise. 

Maybe it’s the sun in your smile 

Or the music in your laughter 

Or maybe I love you so much because you love me so little. 

I try to ask, “And you? What about you?” 

But you don’t understand me. 

  

I knew this was going to hurt, 

That I could never let you go. 

  

I just don’t know how to love you 

In a way you can understand. 

  

Do you understand? 

Copyright: This poem was recorded as part of the Mother Tongue Other Tongue project.

More about this poem

Mother Tongue Other Tongue is a celebration of poetry written by young people in the languages they speak as a first language or at ...

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About Brooklynn Faichnie from Aboyne Academy

"Everyone has always told me that foreign languages are beautiful, so I used three of the romance languages to create a love poem. It is, of course, written in another language, and the person who I have written this to cannot understand what I am saying. They don’t speak like I do.

So, I continue to switch through different languages - French, Spanish, Italian - changing the way I talk, the words I say, my entire personality and identity in hope that they will understand. But it doesn’t matter how much I change myself, they will never understand me.

I wrote this poem as a metaphor for loving someone who either can’t, or won’t, love you back, and the switching of languages represents how willing I have become to change myself for them. But in the end, I have to accept that they don’t understand me, and “I just don’t know how to love you, in a way you can understand.”

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