*[Verse 1 – Man]**
I got off the train, my legs still heavy,
Paris shone in the warm May evening sun,
My mother was on the doorstep, happy to see me,
She held me tight, for a long time.
I had forgotten what it felt like to be held like that,
To be someone to someone, to exist in their gaze.
---
**[Verse 2 – Woman]**
You looked a little yellow, you tried to hide it,
But I saw your weariness, I saw that you were afraid.
We walked along the Seine without talking much,
Sometimes silence says what words cannot.
Your laughter, when it returned, felt like a victory,
I understood that evening that you had been fighting for a long time, alone.
---
**[Chorus – Together]**
Paris, you gave us back something we had lost,
The joy of being together, the joy of still believing.
He's leaving again tomorrow, his belly swollen, his eyes a little yellow,
But he'll come back—alive—that's what we promised each other.
This cirrhosis steals his nights, steals his strength,
But it won't steal his place among us.
--
**[Verse 3 – Man]**
Back home, I look at my trembling hands,
The mirror shows me a man I barely recognize.
The ascites has swollen my belly like a taut drum,
Not a single button closes, not a night goes by without itching.
My liver is failing, the doctor no longer smiles when he speaks to me,
He says: *“Now is the time to decide, my friend.”*
I think of Mom on this threshold. I think of you. That's why I can't give up.
---
**[Verse 4 – Woman]**
I repainted your room white, I kept it for you,
Because an empty room in a family makes too much noise.
We found a doctor, a real one, who looked you in the eyes,
He said that with courage and care, the body can still fight.
You'll sleep here, I'll be there at the slightest sound in the night,
We won't let you go through this alone again, never alone again.
---
**[Chorus – Together]**
Paris, you gave us back something we had lost,
The joy of being together, the joy of believing again.
He leaves with a heavy heart, a tired body,
But he'll come back—healed—that's what we swore to each other.
This cirrhosis burns his blood, drowns his lungs,
But it won't steal his place among us.
---
**[Bridge – Alternating Voices]**
*(Man)* There are nights when I no longer know if it's fever or fear,
When the fog takes hold of my head, when I can no longer find my words.
The blood rushes where it shouldn't,
The body betrays before the soul is ready.
*(Woman)* But you called us. You didn't disappear into silence.
And you don't know what it cost us not to see it sooner.
*(Together)* We don't realize what we have until we risk losing it.
So we fight. Together. Like a family learning to be one.
---
**[Harmonica solo — slow, painful, then rising again]**
---
**[Final chorus — Acoustic, bare voice]**
Paris, you gave us back something we had forgotten,
That family isn't about blood — it's about choice, every single day.
He'll be taking the RER soon, with his medication and his fear,
But this time he's
ManuThevenet
