A keresés eredménye oldal 2

Obok

I don't belong to your world
You don't belong to mine
But you get used to anything
And sometimes I turn around
As I go on without you
 
You may turn the other cheek one thousand times
Split your coat
You may carry your cross
Fair enough, but I did carry mine
From Obok to Lalibela
I have kept a few nails
Hammered, hammered
Hammered, hammered
 
I don't belong to your world
To your wisemen, your marabouts
Who read in animal guts
I don't belong to a century
That boils like a pot
Of tasteless soup
 
Suddenly you turn round
As if you wanted to split wood
And set fire everywhere
As I did you see
From Obock to Lalibela
I have kept a few bruises
Hammered, hammerred
Hammerred
 
From the hill of Saint-Cloud
Sometimes I turn around
Like a ship without mast
I go without you
 
You may turn the other cheek one thousand times
Split your coat
You may carry your cross
As I did carry mine, see
You see, from Obok to Lalibela
I have kept a few bruises
Hammered, hammered
Hammered
 
Hammered, hammered
 

To whom love failed

To whom love failed, who didn't love
To the one who never touched her fragrant lips
Never felt her dark look
Her hurting eyes, disarmed by fever
 
To the one who never pointed at the deep wound
The tearing pain of the beloved one
And the most commonplace daily moments
Becoming precious without meaning to
 
Like a plant you pull up
From the soil, from the compost 1
Like a hand you set free
 
But for sure these two will lose their eyesight
In the midst of heavenly bliss
Together blind to the cruel world
With no need to hide anymore
 
Like a plant you pull up
From the soil, from the compost
Like a hand you set free
 
To whom this caress was never given
To the one who never touched the thick grass
That shivers and bows as in times past
But these holes are sockets through which the air blows
 
And in the end I couldn't care less about it
Perhaps shall I disappear in a fold of nothingness
For having been together, leaving nothing more than
A feeling that vanishes in tears and water
 
Like a plant you pull up
From the soil, from the compost
And remains attached by its stem
And will neither grow nor die nor pass
Simply decay
Who didn't know
Who didn't love...
 

Bad karma

It's big, it's big,
you can always see
such a white, white sand.
Yet the world is enclosed regardless,
inside a screen.
You can see men, women and children moving
inside a screen.
But someone plays up there,
pulls the neck downward.
Things go about,
switch on and off
and are happy and bleed
endlessly
on this screen, on this screen.
 
No future, no past,
not the slightest reason to live,
no reason to exist.
No future, no past either,
and yet you have to cross
from one shore to the other.
 
Never look through the rear window
at the lizards bogged down under the stone benches
at the buffalos stuck in the river sand banks,
temples bared, hair pulled back,
temples bared, hair pulled back,
 
Look and see darkness passing by,
Look and see darkness and lights passing by (x2)
 
Bad karma.
And since ten thousand years the mark of a finger
pushing the wheel,
the wheel of law.
Slam the door and shudder, shudder...
 
No future, no past,
now where are the roads,
the faded roads?
What have become of all
our thoughts?
This world is bound to break.
 
What has become of all our past lives,
the marches on which we all danced,
our acts, our gestures, our thoughts?
Whose skink have they sunk into?
Whose skink have they sunk into?
 
Look and see darkness passing by,
Look and see darkness and lights passing by (x2)
 
Bad karma.
On the bottom of a glass, the mark of a finger
like a face that would look like you.
Slam the door and shudder, shudder...
 
Bad karma.
And since ten thousand years the mark of a finger
pushing the wheel,
the wheel of law.
Slam the door and shudder, shudder...
 
Slam the door and shudder, shudder...
 
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On the day you will want to leave

Versions: #2
There won't be any trains left in the stations
on the day you will want to leave,
among children sleeping
in gardens and in beds.
There won't be any planes left in the air.
The city will be like a wasteland.
Nothing but children huddling together
to block your way.
 
Waiting for the fires and the noise of the city
to ebb,
you will pour water on the foreheads of those you love
and who are bleeding,
among sleeping children
and birds fallen from their nests.
 
There won't be any flowers left on the tables.
The child will put his satchel down.
Hiding his face in his hands to cry,
he will hear you walking away.
 
Waiting for the fires and the noise of the city
to ebb,
you will pour water on the foreheads of those you love
and who are bleeding,
among unknown children
and lost wolves and dogs.
 
You're bound to remember one day
this city that once was yours,
with its children asleep
on the marble fountain rims.
 
Waiting for the fires and the noise of the city
to ebb,
you will pour water on the foreheads of those you love
and who are bleeding,
among sleeping children
and birds fallen from their nests.
 
Among sleeping children
and birds fallen from their nests.
 
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Sad Tropics

Versions: #2
We're told about Indians who suffer and are becoming scarce.
Aren't we themselves oppressed peoples?
No penis sheats, no curare,
but the same terror that forces us to back off.
 
Some used to set off in the morning and come back
in the evening, living off the land and false hopes.
On piddling hunting grounds,
you still own the right to be cynical
and to refuse to follow the crowd like donkeys1,
and not to go dancing like pieces of machinery
on the incense smokes of
on the incense smokes of sad tropics,
among apocalyptic flute sounds.
 
Some used to set off in the morning and come back
in the evening, hunters-gatherers clad in black.
Even though the forest is dying, rotting away,
this is not enough to be considered a challenge.
 
Some Atlantises again
Some Atlantises again are collapsing into the sea,
but all that dies one day is reborn one day.
We still own the right to sit there
in the din of great trees and saws,
not to ape others, to pretend,
not to go dancing like pieces of machinery
on the blue smokes of sad tropics,
on the blue smokes of sad tropics,
among apocalyptic flute sounds.
 
Naked Indian girls, ageless women
who will have turned into peat or folliage,
the day you wake up, the swamp
will be covered in steel up to the clouds.
 
And in front of precious marble pools
the Indian girls come to die and become scarce.
Aren't we themselves the rarest of Indians?
It might not be too late to save us.
 
Since we all have to meet our end someday, somewhere,
we will go into hinding in some pond,
in one of those lagoons spared by History,
where the sand is a home, and the wind is a tune,
in one of those sad tropics' lagoons
where the sand is a home, and the wind is a tune,
in one of those sad tropics' lagoons.
 
In one of those lagoons
where the sand is a home.
in one of those sad tropics' lagoons.
 
In one of those lagoons
In one of those lagoons
 

• 1. lit. 'like a goat', but the term used for a person implies stubbornness and stupidity

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Womb

Children in paradise
Are children on earth
Lined up like radishes
Along their mother
 
Children in paradise
Are children on earth
With rounded eyelids
And noxious irides
 
(Noxious irides)
They came on earth
Without asking for anything
Like a winter rain
Over a flooded city
 
Is it to help us
Withstand the fear of the dark
The trembling of our memories
The rattling of our jaws ?
 
Send us back where we came from
Where we were born, where we remember
The drops of tenderness
The sobs of drunkenness
 
Send us back where we came from
Without difficulty you know quite well
That we have not really grown up since
Blood throbs at our temples
 
Womb that made me
In its unmade bed
Womb that made me
Evil... Evil is done
 
Womb
Womb
 
Send us back where we came from
Through the same path, the same channel
Of the everlasting pain
Of the vale of tears
 
Send us back for our own good
We don't need more, we ask for nothing
Other than swimming in the great liquid
Like an empty-eyed tadpole
Womb that made me
In a perfect mold
Womb that made me
Evil... Evil is done
 
Womb
 
Womb after all
You know the world is ready-made
The more you move towards the infinite
The more you know its finished
Womb that made me
Evil, the evil is done
The more you move towards the infinite
The more you know its finished
Womb
Womb
Womb
 
Womb...
Womb you..
Womb...
Womb you...
 

Always together

We shall always talk together
We shall always understand each other
All our days look alike
We shall always get bored together
We shall always get sad together
We shall always get happy together
If heaven's voice trembles
We shall stay together all the same
If heaven's voice trembles
We shall sleep together all the same
We shall fly away towards the clouds
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
Of the cage
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
 
We shall fly away towards the clouds
We shall not carry any luggage
Farewell Earth, last journey
The great trip in the skies
We shall always fly off together
We shall leave the temple stairs
If heaven's voice trembles
We shall sleep together all the same
If heaven's voice trembles
We shall stay together all the same
We shall fly away towards the clouds
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
Of the cage
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
 
We shall fly away towards the clouds
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
Of the cage
We shall be able to break the bars
The bars, the bars
 

White is the snow

By dint of facing each other
Of misunderstanding, of lack of love,
Really, our time is running out
Really, our time is running out
 
Then, as the harm is done,
As the gap widens, the bed is unmade
They look at each other, they remain silent
They look at each other, they remain silent
 
The man leans his body forwards
Like a dead trunk, he holds out his branches
But the cold has come, white is the snow
But the cold has come, white is the snow
The cold has come, white is the snow
 
He is leaving tomorrow, he sets off again
All along his way, each step will be painful
To grow away from you, whatever the cost
To grow away from you, whatever the cost
 
The man leans his body... (refrain)
 
You leave us for that country
Where as you say people are beautiful
What is it you desire other than you already have
What is it you desire other than you already have
 
The man leans his body... (refrain)
 

The mask on the wall

He has sold everything, given everything
In the deserted house
You can hear the echo of his steps
Only one light is left on
Only one light...
 
There's also a mask on the wall
It gives you the creeps
It gives you the creeps
There's also a mask on the wall
It never says a word
It never says a word
No, it never says a word
It never says a word
 
He has sold everything, given everything
Just kept his necklace
That comes from India
The last page of his notebook
You can't read it, it's all crossed off
You can't read it...
 
There is also a mask on the wall
It gives you the creeps
It gives you the creeps
There's also a mask on the wall
It never says a word
It never says a word
No, it never says a word
It never says a word
 
When he went off
He didn't know, didn't know
That you never come back
You never come back..
 
He has given everything, sold everything
Only one photo is left hanging
With naked women and children
It's over there they met
It's over there they...
 
There's also a mask on the wall
It gives you the creeps
It gives you the creeps
There's also a mask on the wall
It never says a word
It never says a word
It will never say a word
It will never say a word
 
When he went off
He didn't know, didn't know
That you never come back
You never come back
You never come back
You never come back
You never come back..
 

Kingdom of Siam

I saw you sitting in a street
With your child under your shirt
Shoulders exposed, covered with gold
To please your god, again you dance
The river flows at the edge of the temple of Dawn
 
Nobody cries or complains
At night streets are warm, children play
Wide eyes without eyelids
Tanned skin, fair belly
The river flows at the foot of the great stone Buddha
 
Kingdom of Siam
Path leading to the happy people
Kingdom of Siam
Who sees the world through your eyes
Maybe that one will find happiness
 
I saw you in the strange city
Door to heaven, town of the angels
With love and freedom
Eat mango and drink tea
Your river will flow for ever
 
Kingdom of Siam
Path leading to the happy people
Kingdom of Siam
Who sees the world through your eyes
Maybe that one will find happiness
 
I saw you sitting in the street
With your child under your shirt
Shoulders exposed, covered with gold
You always dance, again you dance
The river flows at the edge of the temple of Dawn
 
Kingdom of Siam
Path leading to the happy people
Kingdom of Siam
Who sees the world through your eyes
Maybe that one will find happiness
Who sees the world through your eyes
Maybe that one will find happiness
 

When you carry

When you carry
On your shoulders
The most beautiful
Burden
When your hand shivers
Because he looks like you
 
When you know it's him
Crying at the dead of night
When you get up
Burning with fever
When your hand shivers
Knowing that he looks like you
 
You know that in his veins
It's the same blood
It's the same blood
When it flows
It's the long carpet of your life
That unfolds
 
When you know it's him
Crying at the dead of night
When he coughs
In his foam cot
When he calls you
Always keep in mind
Remember it was him
Frail at the dead of night
And when one day
From the top of a tower
You will see him go
As everyone without a word...
 

Covered truck

Truck in the night
Covered truck
Like a released balloon
Illusions, hopes
And blood stained
Straps tied-down
No more desire
In this loathed world
Nothing to say
Drive in the darkness
Hit by dreams
On the waysides
Of desperation
 
Truck in the darkness
Drives away this evening
And will not come back
In the back seat
Of black leatherette
A child breathes
 
A fair-eyed girl
With frail limbs
Sleeps in a cloth
Like an angel feather
In a flannel blanket
Fallen from heavens
 
And in the rhythm of axles
The awful din
Of the iron truck
*
Truck in the night
What do you know about him
About what he leaves once again
Sad settings
The rest has been crushed
When the world is sick
What is left to him
Is the shape that sleeps
In a blanket
On the rugged seat
She's the only figure
The only landscape
Standing like a mirage
The face of the angel
That sleeps in her flannel blanket
Fallen from heavens
 
And in the rhythm of axles
The awful din
Of the iron truck
Truck...
 
All that is left to him
When the world is sick
Is the shape that sleeps
 
Truck in the night
Armored truck
For so many years
So many low blows
Without lights and masts
Lanterns torn
Truck rolls away
From a loathed world
History will tell
What should be remembered
On an acacia tree trunk
Tires howling
Windows bursting
 
Crushed truck
And in his notebook
Three more lines
Three crossed-off words
The three words of a drowned man
Whose body is recovered
During a moonless night
One hand through
The brown curls
On the angel's forehead
In her flannel blanket
Fallen from heavens
 
And in the rhythm of axles
The awful din
Of the iron truck
 
Truck in the night
Smashed truck
Iridescent windows
Strewing the ground
In a sunken lane
Crushing the hand
From which the soul escapes
Still breathing
As if bewitched
Stroking the body
And the grey nape
Of the crushed adult neck
Where the bones are smashed
In the covered truck
Front burst open
Through which the wind edges
And dries up
The child's forehead
Moistened with tears
 
In the covered truck
Front burst open
Through which wind edges
And dries up
The child's forehead
Moistened with tears
 
Sanctified truck
Picked up off the ground
Straight towards the sky
The rest erased
The tree opened
In the middle
Passenger compartment open
On the green carpet
Of painless moss
The fair-haired angel
Looks at her father
Who keeps driving
 
Truck in the night
Truck
Truck
Truck
Truck
Truck
 

It's a park where animals dwell

It’s a park where animals dwell
And water flows on their heads
Amidst light horses
Animals are mingled.
 
It’s a trap in which our children
Will fall when they grow up
And when the hunter will leave
On a stretcher, they will say :
 
It’s a park where animals dwell
And maybe someone remembers…
Over-ripened fruits, hollow trees
That was God’s orchard.
 
It’s a park where animals dwell
And water flows on their heads
Amidst wild horses
Each one rears up under the storm.
 
It’s a trap in which wolf, dog,
Man and rat will fall
And when hunters will leave,
Kneeling down we shall sing :
 
It’s a park where animals dwell
And maybe someone remembers…
Over-ripened fruits, hollow trees
That was God’s orchard.
 

Marin'bar

She eats bamboo shoots
Burns her life at both ends
Lives in a trailer
 
Her bicycle hangs on the wall
She’s not afraid of fish
Or sharks in the lagoon
She hides her American dollars
Inside her bathing suit
She eats rice, cookies
She picks coconuts
Wakes up at six in the evening
And goes to sit at Marin’bar
 
She collects sea-shells
She’s the cutest, the wisest
You won’t forget her face
She’s the cutest on the beach
 
At Marin’bar
If you like to see her
Just go and sit down
At Marin’bar
At Marin’bar
She’s there every night
Just go and sit down
 
When she was born there was nothing
No American soldiers
Nowadays she has friends
In every hotel there
 
At night, she comes home by car
She sleeps in a blanket
Between sister and mother
In her life there is no mystery
 
She eats rice and fish
She kisses every boy around
Wakes up at six in the evening
And sits down at Marin’bar
 
She’s the cutest, the wisest
She collects sea-shells
You won’t forget her face
She’s the cutest on the beach
 
At Marin'bar (refrain)
 
She eats rice and fish
She kisses every boy around
Wakes up at six in the evening
And sits down at Marin’bar
 
She’s the cutest, the wisest
She collects sea-shells
You won’t forget her face
She’s the cutest on the beach
 
At Marin'bar (refrain)
 
At Marin'bar
 

Like a Lego puzzle

It's a great land out of nowhere
with nice golden handles1
The optics of a microscope
and all these tiny beings running,
for each one busies oneself following one's fate,
mighty or lowly.
 
Like during the Egyptian centuries
With great effort
bearing a thousand times their own weight
under the heat and in the wind
in the sun and in the night
Do you see these living beings?
Do you see these living beings?
Do you see these living beings?
 
Somebody thought up this
frightful, cruel, engrossing game.
The houses, the lakes, the continents
Like a Lego puzle with wind
The weakness of the almighty
 
Like a lego puzzle with blood
the tenfold increased strength of the losers
Like a Lego puzzle with teeth
Like a lego puzzle with hands
Like a Lego puzzle
 
Do you see all these human beings
dancing together, clasping each other's hand
kissing in the dark with their blond hair
not seeing what they will be tomorrow
 
The capital cities have become all the same,
facets of the same mirror,
dressed in steel, dressed in black
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle
 
Facets of the same mirror,
dressed in steel, dressed in black
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle, but with no memories
Like a Lego puzzle
 
Why don't you ever answer me
from your hideout under your tree,
from this mango tree of more than ten thousand pages
as you swing alone in a cage
and behold this world from so high above
Like an insect, but on its back
Like an insect, but on its back
Like an insect
 
It's a great land out of nowhere
The optics of a microscope
We look ,we look, we look inside
We see minute things shining
These are people in shirts
like during the centuries of the long night
In the silence or in the din
In the silence or in the din
In the silence
 

• 1. the French says 'silver' but 'argent' can also mean 'money'

This translation does not claim to be of any particular value.
Glad if you liked it, sorry if you didn't.
You can reuse it as you please.
Glad if it's for knowledge or understanding, sorry if it's just for money or fame.