NaPoMo Day 28 Translation

L’accent grave*
Jacques Prévert
from Paroles
French version here

The teacher
Hamlet!

Hamlet (jumping up)
Huh…what…sorry…what happened…what is it…what’s up?...


The teacher (annoyed)
Can’t you say “present” like everyone else? It’s not possible, you are still in the clouds.


Hamlet
To be or not to be in the clouds!

The teacher
That’s enough. Not so many ways. And conjugate the verb to be, like everyone else, it’s all I’m asking.

Hamlet
Être…

The teacher
In English, please, like everyone else.


Hamlet
OK, Mr. (He conjugates:)
I am or I am not
You are or you are not
He is or he is not
We are or we are not…

Teacher
(excessively annoyed)
But it’s you who is not there, my poor friend!

Hamlet
That’s it, Mr. Teacher,
I am “where”** I’m not
And, in the end, huh, at the reflection, to be “where” not to be
That might also be the question.

*This is an accent in French, like this: où. If you translate the words literally it means ‘the grave accent.’ Take that as you will, and see the next note to get why Prévert chose it as the title.
** ‘Ou’ means or but ‘où’ means where. So this one is intentionally a double entendre, but it doesn’t translate that way in English.