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 for every new English word
Despite all his attempt to remember the French word for every English word that is
used
Despite all his attempt to educate and communicate in this, the 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, are 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
They are all English
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 in this rat-race way of life
How does one keep a company alive in this global world, if 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 that arrive from China
Can one blame French youth, and yes French companies for purchasing the latest
and greatest technological toys that 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 to 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 while 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 and continue to creep
in
And France fears losing its self-identity to the European community
And France fears losing its self-identity to the Moslem community residing within it
as French citizens
And France fears losing its self-identity to the refugee community, scattered
throughout the countryside within their white tents
And France fears losing its economic power to the current powerhouses of the world
The United States, Japan, and China
And France fears losing its economic power to the countries that 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 fit into this new world order
How can France survive as France
How can France survive as France
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 all is fluid
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
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
The Frenchman burns
And he feels helpless
He feels helpless
He feels helpless
And in helplessness he watches as his beloved, his 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 just 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 when 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 also 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
And the Frenchman burns
The French grieve
The French grieve
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 and the onslaught from within
Defeats them
It 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