Liban, ecoute: Quand on a que l'amour!

My dear country, Lebanon, is in turmoil! I'm so sorry to have to see it in distress due to political dilemmas over and over again! I would like to dedicate a song to my countrymen today called "Quand On a Que L'amour" translating to "When we have nothing but love". Please read and listen. I hope it inspires you and gives you something to contemplate. I have also posted the song in English underneath.

PEACE! PAIX!

YOUTUBE link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX1CAStNu-Q

Quand on n'a que l'amour - Jacques Brel

Quand on n'a que l'amour
A s'offrir en partage
Au jour du grand voyage
Qu'est notre grand amour

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Mon amour toi et moi
Pour qu'éclatent de joie
Chaque heure et chaque jour

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour vivre nos promesses
Sans nulle autre richesse
Que d'y croire toujours

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour meubler de merveilles
Et couvrir de soleil
La laideur des faubourgs

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour unique raison
Pour unique chanson
Et unique secours

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour habiller matin
Pauvres et malandrins
De manteaux de velours

Quand on n'a que l'amour
A offrir en prière
Pour les maux de la terre
En simple troubadour

Quand on n'a que l'amour
A offrir à ceux-là
Dont l'unique combat
Est de chercher le jour

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour tracer un chemin
Et forcer le destin
A chaque carrefour

Quand on n'a que l'amour
Pour parler aux canons
Et rien qu'une chanson
Pour convaincre un tambour
Alors sans avoir rien
Que la force d'aimer
Nous aurons dans nos mains
Amis, le monde entier

When one only has love

(translated by Anne-Marie de Grazia)

When one only has love
As a give and take
At the dawn of the great journey
this our great love

When one only has love
My love, you and I
To make burst with joy
Every hour of every day

When one only has love
To live up to our promises
Without any other riches
Then to believe in it always

When one only has love
To furnish with wonder
And cover with light
The blight of the suburbs

When one only has love
As a sole purpose
As a sole song
And sole recourse

When one only has love
To clothe at dawn
The poor and the criminal
In mantles of velvet

When one only has love
To offer in prayer
For the suffering world
As a modest minstrel

When one only has love
To give to those
Whose only fight
Is to search for daylight

When one only has love
To trace a path
And force fate
At every crossroad

When one only has love
To speak to cannons
And only a song
To change the mind of a drum

Then without having anything

But the strength to love
We shall hold in our hands
My friend, the entire world