« Sur la Place El-Fna uk »

Jean-Paul VERNERET

11/11/2025

 

It’s blazing hot on El Afna Square

We walk the souk and breathe the air

The wind brings scents of fresh-brewed tea

A man sings low beside his goat and me

 

The souk awakens with the dawn

Voices rise and travel on

A man performs for those who pass

His serpent sways like moving glass

 

Storytellers spin their tales tonight

Drums roll softly through the night

The souk draws in our hearts again

Your laugh dissolves my every pain

 

You and me on El Afna Square

Time stands still as we stand there

In a crowd too busy to see

We move on—just you and me

 

The heat beats hard on the kasbah wall

The colors shine on every stall

A thousand scents float through the sky

As fabrics dance and flutter by

 

Spices paint the warming breeze

Copper sings in melodies

Cloth billows soft in drifting waves

Above the babouches the sunlight paves

 

Storytellers spin their tales tonight

Drums roll softly through the night

The souk draws in our hearts again

Your laugh dissolves my every pain

 

You and me on El Afna Square

Time stands still as we stand there

In a crowd too busy to see

We move on—just you and me

 

The scent of flowers, leather too

Leaves no way I could flee from you

Everything here pulls smiles so wide

And words feel useless by your side

 

Snake charmers move with silent grace

Merchants shout to fill the place

Old carpets, pottery worn with time

Musicians play in perfect rhyme

 

Storytellers spin their tales tonight

Drums roll softly through the night

The souk draws in our hearts again

Your laugh dissolves my every pain

 

You and me on El Afna Square

Time stands still as we stand there

In a crowd too busy to see

We move on—just you and me

 

In El Afna’s souk I lose my way

Through scents of tea and voices' sway

But in the chaos, I see your eyes

And time slows down and softly lies

 

When night descends on Marrakesh

The souk breathes out its final breath

We end the day in a carriage slow

Through the old city’s fading glow