Original Works: Escaping France

April 1994

We'd been sitting
In our dorm room
Wond'ring if the end were near.
Don't know language,
Don't know customs,
Don't know why we're really here.

I thought schoolwork.
I thought project,
But our teacher said good-bye.
Doesn't call us.
Doesn't write us.
Feel he's left us all to die.

As we sit here
Doing research.
Trying just to find some books.
Translate this thing.
Translate that thing.
We keep getting funny looks.

"Oh, don't worry."
"Oh, no problem."
That's the things he used to say.
Should have changed him.
Should have switched then.
Sign the form. Be on our way.

Now we sit here
Going hungry.
Eating Chocolate. Eating Bread.
Don't tell Mother.
Don't tell Father.
We need them to keep us fed.

Pay the school now.
Pay the rent now.
I wish English were the norm.
I don't speak French.
Je parle Anglais.
I don't understand this form.

Into Paris:
Please don't drive there.
RER's the only way.
You can make friends.
Buy a paper.
Cringe as musicians play.

Then we're running.
And we're checking.
Does this metro go our way?
Well I think so.
Well I'd hope so.
Too late now. What'd it say?

Buy a ticket?
Jump the turnstile?
Men in suits don't even pay.
First or second?
Sit or be packed?
A week's cheaper than "three day."

Leaving France now.
Take the train now.
Buy a ticket. Wait all day.
I can't find it!
Damn, we missed it!
Does another go our way?

Find the car now.
Find the seat now.
Well, which does our ticket say?
We don't have one?
Find your own one?
"Reserve" shouldn't work this way...

Now we're sitting,
And we're moving.
TGV goes pretty fast.
Near things blur now.
Far things blur now.
But cars seem to slowly pass...