Il venait d'avoir 18 ans

The song describes a brief encounter between a woman and a young man who has just turned eighteen. She is attracted to him and tries to win his attention; they spend the night together, but he does not treat it as a love affair. When he leaves, her excitement gives way to loneliness. By the end, she recognizes the age difference and the painful contrast between his youth and her own experience.

Several images suggest this contrast. He is “beautiful as a child” yet “strong as a man,” presenting him as both youthful and physically grown. The speaker counts her “autumn nights” when she sees him: autumn can suggest age, time passing, or a more solitary stage of life, set against the summer of his youth. Her putting her hair in order and adding more black around her eyes first shows her effort to attract him; later, doing the same “out of habit” suggests resignation.

The ending, “I had simply forgotten that I was twice eighteen,” can mean she momentarily felt young again, but also that desire did not erase the reality of her age. The encounter may have brought wonder as well as hurt: she calls the experience beautiful, yet feels “already defeated” when he leaves. The song holds both feelings together without clearly resolving whether she regrets the night.