Only death brought me up the hill
A body among many to give phosphorus to the air
For bivouacs of flames they call will-o'-the-wisp
That leave no ash, don't melt the frost
Only death brought me up the hill
As a chemist one day I had the power
To wed the elements and make them react
But men I never managed to understand
Why they'd combine through love
Entrusting joy and pain to a game
Look at the smile, look at the color
How they play on the face of whoever seeks love
Yet the same smile, the same color
Where are they on the face of whoever has had love
Where are they on the face of whoever has had love
It's strange to leave without suffering
Without a woman's face you have to remember
But is your dying any different
You who go out to love, who yield to April
What's different in your dying
Spring doesn't knock, she walks right in
Like smoke she slips through every crack
She has lips of flesh, hair of wheat
What fear, what longing for her to take your hand
What fear, what longing for her to carry you far
But look at hydrogen keeping silent in the sea
Look at oxygen sleeping at its side
Only one law that I can understand
Could marry them without making them blow up
Only the law that I can understand
I was a chemist and no, I didn't want to marry
I didn't know with whom or what I'd father
I died in a failed experiment
Just like the idiots who die of love
And someone will say there's a better way