[Verse 1] Grand piano underneath the sitar's drone, We're learning how to meet someone who'd rather be alone — *C'est pour les fous*, they say, *on lave son linge sale en famille*, The priest once held this silence, now you're asked to fill The space where shame and pride have grown like roots in limestone ground, *Se tenir debout* means standing firm — they won't be falling down, Men especially, they'll sit and talk about the weather, So you learn to hold the room, you let the quiet gather [Chorus] Name the work in plain words, *jaser*, take the time, *Prendre le temps de parler de ce qui pèse* — that's the rhyme, Sitar shimmer, patient breath, the trust is filiform — Thin but real, and strong enough to hold against the storm of form, Not jargon, not condescension — *prenez votre langue, je vous suis*, You follow where they lead, you're not the one who has to be the guide [Verse 2] You're anglophone, they know it — some will test your verb conjugation, Some will switch to English just to spare you the frustration, Gently reroute: *Prenez votre langue* — make your effort visible, But never let them carry you, that burden's indivisible, Some resent the outsider, some find it somehow easier To tell a stranger secrets — either way you're not a saviour, You're the one who showed up speaking French in a Quebec corridor, That's not nothing, that's a threshold — call it *préambule*, not metaphor [Chorus] Name the work in plain words, *jaser*, take the time, *Prendre le temps de parler de ce qui pèse* — that's the rhyme, Sitar shimmer, patient breath, the trust is filiform — Thin but real, and strong enough to hold against the storm of form, Not jargon, not condescension — *prenez votre langue, je vous suis*, You follow where they lead, you're not the one who has to be the guide [Verse 3] Check the hearing aid, the light, the dentures, where the pain lives, Shorter sessions, split the hour — presence is what time gives, Home visit with the spouse there watching from the kitchen doorway, Institutional halls with trays — you work the space the floor gave, *Ne pas déranger*, they whisper, *je me débrouille encore*, Pride and shame around dependence — knock before you open that door, Self-deprecating humour is a *quiproquo* — a feint, Laugh with them, not over them, and hold what they call quaint [Bridge] The Church — a comfort and a laceration, Open the door without a destination, Reminiscence, life review, the narrative that threads Through CBT, through ACT, through everything that mends — All of it in French, *la belle langue*, spoken soft and clear, Evidence-based and human-shaped for everything they fear
← Module 8 — The health and social services network for older adults (6 h) | Module 10 — Geriatric assessment and clinical writing in French (8 h) →