France is France No Longer - The Coming Times

The Coming Times

France is France No Longer

And my Mother has me stop in France

France?

Haven’t we looked at Europe already?

But France it is

And I see France trying for dear life to hold on to its identity

To its culture, to its beloved language, to its food

To its way of life, to its self-identity as France

And I see all this slipping away from the Frenchman

And he tries to hold onto to it

And it slips away from him yet

And he holds on ever tighter

And there is nothing to be done

It slips away; it slips away; it slips away

His beloved and beautiful language

Is replaced by the ubiquitous English

Despite all his attempts to create a French word f

or every new English word

Despite all his attempt to remember the French word f

or every English word that is

used

Despite all his attempt to educate and communicate in this, t

he most beautiful of

languages

The French language itself, gradually, steadily declines in use

And is replaced by the language of youth

The language of the world

The one language, English

For English is being adopted worldwide

Why even the Chinese, with their great numbers, a

re adopting English

From the ubiquitous

OK!

To the technological terms

To the terms that the youth of the world take up

They are all English

American English to be more precise

And the French food

The flavorful, delicious, exquisite cuisine of France

Who has time for it anymore

For France must compete in this new global economy

And so France must, to survive

Run as hard and as fast and as at relentless a pace

As do the Americans; as do the Japanese; as do the Chinese

And in spite of their attempt to not indulge i

n this rat-race way of life

How does one keep a company alive in this global world, i

f one does not do so

For the Frenchman is prudent with his money

No he does not have a great deal of disposable income

And can one blame him for purchasing the cheaper products t

hat arrive from China

Can one blame French youth, and yes French companies f

or purchasing the latest

and greatest technological toys t

hat arrive from Japan

Can one blame French youth for adopting all the popular icons of America

Be it blue jeans; Coca-Cola; the movies

And oh gosh, horror of horrors, McDonald’s

And now even the adults stop on the way home from work t

o grab a McDonalds

meal

For who has time anymore for slow cooking

Who has time

And yes, the French language is taught in the schools

And the newspapers and magazines are of course all in French

And the government even attempts to simplify the language a little

Simplify its spelling w

hile yet keeping the beauty and elegance of their beloved

language

But it is hopeless

American English creeps in like air pollution

It first displays in the words of the people

Then in the writings of the people

And then in the writings of the less scholarly journals and magazines

And then finally even in the most respected newspapers and journals

For they must communicate with their audience

The American English words creep in and continue to creep in a

nd continue to creep

And France fears losing its self-identity to the European community

And France fears losing its self-identity to the Moslem community r

esiding within it

as French citizens

And France fears losing its self-identity to the refugee community, s

cattered

throughout the countryside within their white tents

And France fears losing its economic power t

o the current powerhouses of the world

The United States, Japan, and China

And France fears losing its economic power to the countries t

hat are striving ever

so intently and relentlessly to be powerhouses

Be it Germany or the eastern European countries.

Will Russia also dominate?

And where will France and the French way of life f

it into this new world order

How can France survive as France

And France feels as though it is drowning

It is as a boat sinking

And it is bailing water out of the boat with a little bucket

And the boat continues to sink

Its language; its beloved language!

Oh my God!

Its beautiful, elegant, refined beloved language

Being replaced by the sloppy, careless, loose English

Where words change meaning

And can mean one thing and then mean another

And there is no structure and there is no order

And all is fluid

And the delicious, nutritious, flavorful French cuisine

Is replaced by the bland, devoid of all nutrition, high in empty calories

Completely unsatisfying American junk food-products

And the collective French stomach heaves

And yet McDonalds spring up everywhere and are successful

Yes they are

They are successful

And have no trouble attracting customers to its stores

No trouble at all

And perhaps worse of all

The French very way of life is being transformed

For it has to be

In this global economy

One can no longer afford to give one’s employees

6 weeks paid vacations per year

No, one simply cannot

And despite all the government efforts

At regulating and curbing the number of hours in the workweek

A company must increasingly adopt the ways

Of the Americans, the Japanese, the Chinese

A company simply must, it must to survive, it has no choice

But to demand that its employees work, at the same salary of course

45, 50,

oh forgive us

, 55 hours per week

It must or it will go under

The choice is as stark as that

And the French joie de vivre is slowly eroding

As the Frenchman runs ever faster; ever harder to keep up

To keep up

And no, he no longer has time for his beloved cuisine

He no longer has the time to prepare it

He no longer has the time to sit for an hour or two and enjoy it

No, he no longer has the time

And he feels himself assaulted from all sides

By the countries around the globe

As they invade with their products and their culture

And he feels himself assaulted from within

By the refugee community; who fortunately is contained to its tents

Unfortunately the Moslem community

The Moslem citizens of France are not so contained

And despite all the governments best efforts

The Moslem citizens refuse to become French

They insist on remaining Moslem

They insist on retaining the language, the religion,

those dreaded headscarves!

They insist on holding onto the culture of their country of origin

And just why did they immigrate to France anyway

If they love their country of origin so dearly

And if they hate France so much

What are they doing in France anyway!

And the Frenchman burns

The Frenchman burns

And he feels helpless

He feels helpless

And in helplessness he watches as his beloved, h

is precious, his unique France is

taken away from him

His beautiful France is no longer France

It is now generic

It is a generic country j

ust like any other country on the globe

Even Paris begins to look like a generic large city

Just like any other city on the globe

And the Frenchman rages, he rages w

hen the rest of the world complains of this

Why, what has happened to the magic of Paris,

they complain

It would seem that the rest of the world a

lso grieves the loss of Paris as Paris

There will always be Paris

Can it be true that there is no longer Paris

Can this really be true

But one looks up and down the streets of Paris

And sees the same stores that one sees up and down the streets

Of each and every major city on the globe

And no, Paris is now just another major city on the globe

It is no longer

PARIS

And surprisingly, even the world grieves the loss of Paris

Even the world grieves

And the Frenchman burns

The French grieve

For Paris is Paris no longer

And the French helplessly weep into their hands

They weep helplessly

Helpless they weep

And they continue to try

With ever less energy; with ever less hope

They continue to try to hold onto the essence that is France

And the onslaught from without a

nd the onslaught from within

Defeats them

It defeats them

And the French grieve

And the French are bitter

And the French are angry

But most of all, the French are helpless

Helpless they are

Completely helpless they are

As they watch the essence, the truth of their beloved country slip away

And France is France no longer