OVERFLOW – Theo Hakola, 1997


 

CHERRIES

You clatter 'bout the café like Popeye's girlfriend,

you fruit-spangled, tangled mess of limbs

If I were there too I'd  give myself to you,

but I don't know where there is

You trip down the stairs to rinse your cherries

mid the pissing and the flush-hissing din

If I were in that loo I'd give myself to you,

but I don't know where that loo is

I'd know you in a trice by day or by night,

by your taste, by that sweet and sour tinge

But I can't find you to give myself to

when I don't even know what state you're in

Listen you finely chiseled cherry fiend,

you slash painted woman of whim

I'm trying to find you to give my heart to

'fore it overflows and floods me in

>>

The cracked brow crowns your face, you're picking cherries some place:

Oh show me the way to go there

All that's left here of your grace is the fast fading trace

of your hands and your teeth on my skin

It's a wonder to behold but with the trail getting cold,

it's not the map to take me to your lair

And every day's as wrong as a bad song is long

when I don't know where you're going or where you've been

Your eyes are wee black marbles upraised to gaze

on God knows what: I wish I knew

I'm waiting for those gems to roll my way again

but God knows if they're ever going to

 

Your smile is long and silent like a summer day in Lapland

as you stare down the saucy sea

If I could be there too I'd give my heart to you

but God knows what the hell sea that might be

>>>>

I can wake up; I can fall out of bed

Drink coffee, blow smoke rings and have a conversation

I can serve the occasional ace and almost steal third base

I can sing "The International" with little hesitation

I can do fifty push-ups if I must

I can chop wood and split hairs better than some

But all that's just a handful of dust

If I haven't found you when all is said and done

From the Bowery to Barbès to the Dolomites,

your cherry scent stretches me all across the night

And as it slips down the Ramblas to meet the morning light,

the longing ache is eating up my sight

If my legs give out too, know that my heart hasn't,

know that it never could

But there's just so much you can ask of a body,

when a body's not made of wood

If I should fail to bridge the ghastly gap that's come between

come between me and your arms,

Know that I died trying, darling,

know I fell for your sweet and sour charms

>>

You stumble o'er the steppe like a cutloose colt,

a filly willow waltzing wolves in the wind

If I could catch that wind I'd ride it into your limbs

but I don't know where that wind blows

You rattle 'round the café leaving carnage in your wake,

ever merry on another cherry binge 

If I could track that trail of pits I'd trace it to your lips

but I don't have a wolf's nose

You finally sit down to frown over the scrapes

and the black and blue shapes on your shins

If I were there too I'd give myself to you

but God knows what the hell café you're in

Listen you manic cherry aria!

You knock-kneed harmony! You sublime, slim hymn!

I have to find you to give my heart to

before it boils over and does me in

 

 

SHOOT ME

"I'm losing the North", as they say in France
My heart's on fire and my head's in a trance
My hands are frozen and my feet won't dance
God I've fallen in love; I don't have a chance

"Can't live if you don't love," they say in Spain
But this kind of love only drives you insane
I'm reeling down the rapids of a river of champagne
Where the curves curl my nerves and the bubbles numb my brain

So just shoot me; get it over with
Do it while I'm not looking
Just shoot me in the back, you dog
You can do it while I'm cooking

Just shoot me
Put me out of my misery
Before lunch or after dinner
Damn-it darling, set me free

"My mind's gone south," as they say in the West
It's Judy Garland at her worst - love-cursed and obsessed
My body's out to lunch and my flesh takes the cake
I want to sleep like a stiff, yeah, and never have to wake

You caught my heart, honey, before I knew I threw it
And it was all so lush and rummy, I couldn't stop to rue it
But I see the end in your eyes; I hear goodbyes in your sighs
And in the shadow of your lies there's the chill of our demise

So just shoot me; get it over with
Call it a preemptive strike
Before church or after sex
Whatever way you like

Chérie/cheri, shoot me
Come on and blow out my light
God knows you're going do it some day girl/boy
So why not do it tonight?

Come on and shoot me
Put me out of my misery
Before lunch or after dinner
Pull the trigger and set me free

 

EAU QUI SAOULE

Maintenant il s'agit d'autre chose

Maintenant il s'agit d'un élan qui arrose 

Maintenant il s'agit de corps qui coulent

Maintenant il s'agit d'eau... eau qui soûle

Maintenant, après cent ans de plafonds en pierre,

il s'agit de sabler le grand ciel

Maintenant, après les cendres et la poussière,

il tombe une pluie d'eau de vie... et de miel

Maintenant il s'agit de soif assouvie

par la chair de cette sœur qui m'enivre de son flot

Maintenant il s'agit d'une hydrofurie 

qui crache sur mes creux et qui mâche mes maux

Son cœur est une rivière qui enlace mes os

et sa bouche est une lame qui me sillonne le dos 

Blanche de l'œil et noire du cerveau

Elle est rouge du nez et bleu méditerranée... de sa peau

>>

Maintenant il s'agit de la première brèche

dans le mur de la mer d'accumulations

Maintenant il s'agit d'âmes qui débordent

d'une cascade de colères et d'une vague de passions,

              de nuits et de cris et de lamentations,

              d'un puits plein d'ennui et d'excitation,

              de volonté explosée et de désolation,

              d'amour sans cours et d'un fleuve... d'exaltation

Et le choc de cette eau relâchée,

pourrait briser tout joug et tout éclabousser

La masse de ce flot redirigé

saurait porter ma haine, couler ma peine et noyer... le soleil

>>

Maintenant il s'agit d'autre chose

D'eau forte, eau douce, eau de sexe, eau de rose

Maintenant il s'agit d'une cracheuse d'eau 

qui pleut sur mes feux et se moque de mes maux

Son corps m'endort dans le lit de sa houle

où ses baisers me nourrissent d'eau qui soûle

Maintenant il s'agit de caresses qui coulent

Maintenant il s'agit d'eau... eau qui soûle

WE'VE  ALREADY  EATEN

The Chinese think that they're at a new dawn 

and they'll all be smoking Camels and leaving lights on ...

before too long

The Chinese think that it's their turn to eat like pigs and waste and burn

from Beijing to Hong Kong

The Chinese think that the day isn't far when they won't be as hot and cold as they are

but they're wrong

Yes the Chinese think that some day they’ll be as temperature-controlled as the U.S.A. but they're wrong

We've already eaten and there's no more room at the table

              We got there first and we're not giving any ground

              There's not enough bread and rivers and trees and

              profit and plums and ease to go around

              The ozone's thinning, the ocean's brimming & the ice caps are melting down

              So forget green and blue and get used to foul yellow and sallow brown

             

The Russians thought they were singing our song

and they'd all be stars driving cars with bars before too long

The Africans thought that before too long they'd be less hot and hungry, less put upon but they were wrong

The wolves know that something's happening here but they don't know what it is

They don't understand the new rules

The wolves can't kill at a distance to save their land and lives,

no, the wolves lack certain vital tools

The wolves know almost everything from a scent or a sound or a sight

except how to survive white biped rapacity

Wisdom born of  natural selection and being there forever

can't parry profit's craven audacity

              Can't get you a bed in the stable and anyway,  you're already beaten

              Can't get you a seat at the table and anyway, we've already eaten

              Can't fight burning and looting by pig-bellied market forces

              Can't force the gain-insane to re-seed the vital sources

              Can't fight for a piece of the cake when there's no cake being created

              When it's ad campaigns and video games until the market's satiated

                            When it's suck, suck, suck, suck sucking the blood of the earth

                            And we'll suck and suck as long as we can suck anything of worth

                            We'll turn it into television, casinos, cars and crack

                            and any other soul-hole-filler that you think you lack

 

You might swim to the great sea of material contentment

but you'll never dive any deeper than visceral resentment

Your hunger will always burn, no matter how much you earn

for there's no more room at the table and it'll never be your turn

The feast is finished; there's no more bread to be broken,

so go have another bunch of babies and stop banging on the door

And teach your children craving now and how to be poor -

how you brought them here for nothing with nothing decent to fight for

You caught our infection for naught; there's no more chicken in the pot,

so what's the point of class war when we've already emptied the store?

Oh the wolves would explain it if we would read what's written in their core

but the wolves ain't around much anywhere, anyhow, anymore 

          

              And I want to be a wolf and dig a hole into the past

              I want wolf dreams; I want to sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep at last

              I want to sleep in a curl of wolf warmth and eat antelope to break my fast

              And o'er an ocean of winter white at midnight, catch the wind in my lupine grasp  

              Oh the magnificent mechanism and prancing steel-spring paws!

              Oh the canine catechism of dancing natural laws!

              Oh the fine-tuned cataclysm and steel clamp, mighty, miracle jaws!

              Oh the wolf, oh the wolves, oh the ancient soul, oh the howl and the cry!

              Oh the wolf, oh the wolves, oh the edge and the exquisite pale eye...

                      Oh I, Oh I...  maybe I... With no hope of sleep as dawn is nigh,

                      no hope in dreams or in another's sigh, maybe  I, maybe I, maybe I, maybe I

                      haven't eaten... and I, maybe I, maybe I, maybe I

                      like the earth, rent by dearth and desecration, bent by birth and occupation,

                      rent by scorn and recreation, like the wolf, like the wolf...

                      maybe I feel like I, Lord, I feel like I am fixing to die

                      Maybe I, maybe I am fixing to die

 

THE MIRACLE ABUSED

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yay

He's got no job, don't listen to God

but at least now we know he ain't gay

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yin

The boy's surely turning a new leaf now

and finally trying to fit in

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yay

She won't be finishing school now

but school wasn't for her anyway

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yo yin

Yes the girl had a pretty bad hole to fill

since she gave up heroin

>

Mary's having a baby because she had sex

and condoms got on John's nerves

Mary's having a baby because she got pregnant

and John says abortion's for the birds

Mary's having a baby because her life felt empty

and everything around her felt wrong

Mary's having a baby because she wants her own apartment

and it might make things better with John

                            And John's having a baby because he had sex with Mary...

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yack

A kid just might be the ticket

to getting him on the right track

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yin

Never seemed to care much for children,

but one of his own could make a man of him

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie ying

She'll surely be growing up now

and start doing the right thing

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie ying

She's just so thrilled, fulfilled and serene,

maybe she'll even stop drinking

>

Now being a breeder does not necessarily

a real mother or father make

When the miracle's done there's a marathon to run

A whole damn life's at stake

And the old globe can only carry so many,

already bending under the weight

But John and Mary'll be fruit flies forever

and keep breeding just because they're straight...

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yay

You don't need a license and you don't have to pay;

It's a game any half-wit can play

John and Mary are having a baby, whoopy tie whoopy tie yie yay

The sex was easy, quick and breezy

Oh hell what a wonderful day!

THE BROKEN ARMS SONG

OH GOD GIVE ME CRACK THAT'll LAST A LIFETIME,

AS LONG AS LIFE APPALLS

BEFORE THE INIQUITY BREAKS MY BACK,

LORD GIVE ME SOME KIND OF WALLS

I NEED A DRUG LIKE SILKEN ARMOR, LORD,

SO PLEASE HEAR MY CALL

FOR THE HUNGER THAT'S EATING OUR SOULS,

LORD, IT WANTS TO EAT MY ALL

LET'S HEAR IT NOW FOR FREE MARKET INSANITY

                            BYE BYE INTELLIGENCE AND BONJOUR CALAMITY

SOCIALISM STINKS, SO LET'S LISTEN TO OUR INSTINCTS

                            THERE'S NO USE CRYING OVER SPOILED HUMANITY

>>

OH GOD GIVE ME A LOVE HARD AND POUNDING –

A RIVER THAT'LL RAGE FOREVER

AGAINST THE PROFANE BANE ABOUNDING,

GIVE ME TEETH WITHOUT A TETHER

I NEED A LOVE THAT BURNS WHEN MY STOMACH TURNS,

A LOVE THAT MAKES A STAND

FOR THE LIES THAT ICE OUR HEARTS, LORD,

THEY STILL GOT THE RUN OF THE LAND

LET'S HEAR IT NOW FOR AMORAL OPULENCE

                            DEPRAVED CRAPULENCE AND THE QUEST FOR GAIN

HERMES JEEPS FOR THE CITY, MERCEDES SHEETS FOR THE BEACH

                            AND ROLEX UMBRELLAS FOR THE RAIN AND THE PAIN 

              How the hell, God, how the hell not go insane?

Now my arms are bent and broken from holding and hugging clouds

My hands are ripped and stripped from grasping greasy ropes of hope

My mouth is torn and weary from kissing empty shrouds

My eyes are worn and teary from reading shadows and smoke

And my lungs are shot from breathing delusions, illusions and tripe

My feet are cracked and bleeding from running on empty life

My heart is hard and seething from beating through endless blight

My brain is barren and bereaving in a winter without a splinter of light

>>

OH GIVE ME A ZONE WHERE THE BLOODSUCKERS ROAM

AND THE BROKERS AND PREDATORS PLAY

WHERE SELDOM IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING WORD;

ADVERTISING AND RELIGION ALL DAY

THEN GIVE ME A BOMB, LORD, AS BIG AS A HOUSE

AND DROP IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS MESS

BLOW THE LEECHES TO HELL LORD AND SAVE THIS SWEET WORLD FROM FOUL, FREE MARKET EXCESS

              Then God let us all be, let us all be Godless.

Now my arms are bent and broken from holding and hugging clouds

My hands are ripped and stripped from greasy ropes of hope

My mouth is torn and weary from kissing empty shrouds

My eyes are worn and teary from reading shadows and smoke

And my lungs are shot from breathing delusions, illusions and tripe

My feet are cracked and bleeding from running on empty life

My heart is hard and seething from beating through endless blight

My brain is barren and bereaving in a winter without a splinter of light

My ears are jammed with a cancer of lies, good buys and vile sounds

My spirit is sick with horseshit and crushed by a mountain of wrong

My stomach is choked by the creeping spleen of disgust that knows no bounds

My throat is scorched from the embers of another burned-out song

LA CHANSON DU ZORRO ANDALOU

                    MIGUEL ANGEL ESCOBAR

Je ne suis pas heureux mais maman je suis mené

Je suis mené dedans, à l'abri de la cruauté 

Je suis mené au fond des eaux sacrées

du bain clément du refuge de la beauté

Et si ce n'est pas une femme alors la frappe du cognac

pourrait faire bouclier contre toute attaque

La lave me coule dans la gorge pour parer l'assaut

et j'éponge le poison comme le sable prend l'eau

O whisky! Vas-y! Apporte l'exaltation!

Tuons le temps en descendant, en attendant la damnation ...

                                                        Voilà qu'elle arrive. Elle arrive...

Du fond de mon âme monte la mofette de la gangrène

On sent l'abcès espagnol qui embrase mon haleine

On voit la terre infecte qui brûle d'exploser

On goûte l'orage dans le vent des champs méprisés

Mon sang est du plomb et ma peau est défaite

Mon échine fond et mes os sont en craie

Le soleil est ma garrotte et la lune veut ma tête

J'entends mon Caïn dans ma gorge et il veut m'égorger         

                                                        Quand il arrive. Il arrive :

              ZORRO

              Prélat hypocrite et riches désœuvrés:

              Ecoutez l'aria qui coule de mon pistolet

              Si vous tentez de vous planquer dans vos prieurés

              Je flairerai la visqueuse trace de votre race de limace

              et j'éclaterai l'édifice de votre monde encrassé

              C'est 1936... Que la volonté de l'histoire soit fêtée

 

                  MIGUEL ANGEL ESCOBAR

Je suis la décharge perdue du caciquismo

Une sangsue mal sevrée comme tout señorito

Je suis une tache superflue, fils d'un cochon fou

qui me tend le blason d'un patron andalou

Mais j'ai cette prière à l'intérieur

J'ai cet instrument d'expiation

Je saurai payer tous les péchés de mon sang

quand ce sabre apportera la révélation

              Voilà qu'elle arrive. Elle arrive.  Elle arrive. Elle arrive.

                   ZORRO

              Je partirai avec les justes sur la route de la gloire

              J'assignerai la justice, habillé de noir

              Je suis la colère des martyrs et l'outil de l'histoire

              Gare les maudits !  De peur de mon échaudoir

              Serpents, seigneurs et sacerdoce pourris

              Ecoutez la mélodie que chante mon fusil

              Vous pouvez chercher refuge dans vos sacristies

              Mais je flairerai la trace de votre race dégueulasse

                                et je ferai sauter toutes vos vieilles Bastilles

 

Quand le sang de l'homme

         va celui de la femme chasser

Entourées, nous sommes, par des hommes

La triste fin des garçons devenus vieux

La dégénérescence du corps et de l'esprit

Quand la femme est chassée de chez eux

La voix s'engraisse de fumée et de peur

La chair s'empâte partout et ailleurs

Les poils épais profanent la peau vierge

Quand la mère cède la place au père

Comme ses cheveux s'effilent, ainsi tombe l'amour

C'est plus facile pour lui de vivre la haine

Ils trompètent, ils tapent, ils prennent des armes pour

chasser de chez eux toute trace d'œstrogène

Comme son ventre se gonfle ainsi va la fierté 

Quand le sang de l'homme va celui de la femme chasser

Avec les deux il pourrait mieux s'aimer

Mais le sang de l'homme va celui de la femme chasser

Comme sa peur se gonfle ainsi va la fierté

Quand le sang de l'homme va celui de la femme chasser

Avec les deux, il pourrait mieux respirer

Mais le sang de l'homme va celui de la femme chasser

IL N'Y A PAS DE JOLIE FILLE À DROITE

Margaret Thatcher est si affreuse

que pour se maquiller il lui faut une agrafeuse

Nancy Reagan est tellement monstrueuse

qu'elle se coiffe à l'aide d'une motofaucheuse

Brigitte Bardot a toujours été un cageot

Elle effarouche les plus farouches de ses chiens

Leni Riefensthal est moche jusqu'à la moelle 

Le bon reflet de son art Hitlérien

Line Renaud fait un peu crapaud

mais pas autant que Marie-France Garaud

Alors on ouvre les yeux et on respire mieux

quand elles se cachent derrière leurs Figaro

Mireille Darc a l'air assez smart

tant qu'on ne la voit pas de près

Mais même cette Mireille est une vraie beauté

à côté des dames Stirbois et Megret... 

              L'habit fait le moine et l'air fait la chanson

              L'envie de jambon fait cochon qui boite

              Et comme on dit en français, du terroir à l'Elysée :

              Il n'y a pas de jolie fille à droite

Pardon mais, comme on dit en latin : Facit indignatio versum

Depuis qu'elle envoie au président Chirac

les plus belles de ses fleurs

Marie-José Pérec a perdu son éclat

sauf aux yeux des publicitaires

Et Françoise Hardy est bien plus jolie

depuis qu'elle ne salue plus les copains réactionnaires

Les Spice Girls hideuses sont bien plus disgracieuses

depuis qu'elles vénèrent Madame Thatcher

A Salt Lake City au fond de mon pays

les filles du coin font vraiment peur

Car ces Américaines votent Républicain

comme l'effrayante femme de mon frère

                                             

              L'habit fait le moine et l'air fait la chanson

              Caresser la crasse fait des mains moites

              Et comme on dit en français et Dieu sait si c'est vrai :

              Il n'y a pas de jolie fille à droite

Et, comme on dit en italien : Se non è vero, è bene trovato...

Eva Braun avait une dégaine, une dégaine si vilaine

que son fiancé l'a épousée en cachette

Mais peu de temps après il a dû la regarder

et il s'est tiré une balle dans la tête... 

             

              L'habit fait le moine et l'air fait la chanson

            Et quand une femme tourne à droite, elle va contre ses dons

              Elle va contre son cœur et son âme se déboîte

              Les ténèbres la pénètrent et le diable l'exploite

              Et ça se voit à la perte de sa beauté

              Sa nature révoltée dans ses yeux miroite

              Alors on dit en français, je ne l'ai pas inventé :

              Il n'y a pas de jolie fille à droite

Et, comme on dit chez moi :  On the left they're hot and on the right they're not

ANNE-MARIE COMES BACK TO ME

I had a dream about a world gone right

that buried my spleen in a sleep-soaked night

I had a dream about heaven on earth

and no need to cringe before a new birth

I see the righteous resurrected, in this dream,

to embrace my soiled country and purge it clean

They sweep in like angels to dump their cups of wrath

on every traitor to humanity caught in their path

I see Chief Joseph standing there, alive as you or me

Says I: "But Chief, you're 90 years dead" "Touch me," says he

And next to him there's Wobbly Joe Hill, smiling with his eyes

Says Joe: "Ya, sure they killed us once but now we're back to organize"

I see Frederick Douglass and Mother Jones remaking the world over tea

while Emma Goldman and Thomas Paine fall in love over whisky

And then this dream sings the sweetest of its themes:

I see winter beget spring and Anne-Marie comes back to me

Anne-Marie comes back to me

She wraps me in her arms like a thirsty tree

She says she had to leave to know what she lost

and she's sorry for any hell-holes I might have crossed

Anne-Marie comes back to me

and wraps me in her arms like a thirsty tree

And if I take her back, says she, she'll make it up to me

with love and courage enough to save me from insanity

When the class war's over in this dream I see

Newt Gingrich on Main Street locked in the pillory    

I see the market upended and the constitution amended

to prohibit pure profit and gross inequality

Jesse Helms chokes on his own mean-hearted stupidity

and he's buried in the cemetery of the enemies of common decency

He gets to lick Franco's gun and oil the bones of Attila the Hun

But with the worms and no sun old Jesse's hardly having fun

In this dream, only baseball players wear baseball caps

and only players of sports wear sports clothes and shoes

I see Nike nationalized and its slaver-owners slapped

and Spike Lee apologizes for pumping up Nike revenues

When I see Michael Jordan making 50,000 a year

and still playing like a God I have to wipe away a tear

And when the Chicago Cubs make it to the World Series

I know heaven's here and my eyes go bleary

I see the prohibition of four-wheel drive, luxury metal boxes

for anyone but mountain goats and high desert foxes

I see tobacco tycoons replacing dogs smoking in clinical tests

I see the nation washed of speculation and the exploitation of debts

I see casinos burning and the buffalo returning

and ire and brimstone raining down on Bill Gates

I see all babies born being wanted and welcomed

and solidarity based on class now sooner than race

I see churches turned into museums and Disneyland ground to a halt

I see McDonalds turned into sculpture and Salt Lake City turned to salt

I see truth become the new God and Orwell the new prophet

and when slime assaults a woman I see society stop it

I see Hollywood in flames and it's royals in chains

before they're sent off to rehab farms to learn to serve humanity

And then this dream ignites and pipes its sweetest melody

as night gives way to day and Anne-Marie comes back to me

Anne-Marie comes back to me

She wraps me in her arms like a thirsty tree

She says she had to leave to know what she lost

And she's sorry for any hell-holes I might have crossed

Anne-Marie comes back to me

She wraps me in her arms like a thirsty tree

She doesn't care if I'm poor, sick and ailing

as long as my love is lyric, shining, thick and unfailing

Anne-Marie comes back to me

and wraps me in her arms like a thirsty tree

The world's gone right and I can finally breathe

as I soak up the light beside Anne-Marie

 

Then I wake up alive and refreshed

I feel drunk and I feel blessed

I feel the sweet heat of Anne-Marie's hands

and then I fall crashing from this reverie sham

There were no resurrections or cups of wrath

There was no transformation by a cleansing bath

We're still stumbling under a mass of crass and half-wit creeps

and the Cubs haven't won a single game in weeks

All we have of Joe Hill are his songs and his ashes

and Chief Joseph's still buried too far from his home

We still gorge the market monster no matter what it trashes

and the roar of its digestion is cutting me to the bone

And as long as I'm outside this dream

I'll never hear that magic melody

I'll never see winter turn into spring

I'll never see Anne-Marie come back to me

Anne-Marie won't come back to me 

and wrap me in her arms like a thirsty tree

She'll never warm my heart again

and I'll always be cold, hungry and thin

Outside this dream I know Anne-Marie

will never ever come back to me

The world's gone wrong and so it must be

but the night's so long without Anne-Marie

 

LUNACY

              I can't forget the first meeting of our lips

              And I can't forget and I already miss...

              our next kiss

These are funny and maybe frightening and always nice things to hear and say,

to read and write

And she is funny and maybe frightening - Celtic sin moon lost in the day,

found in the night

Waxing and waning and ever whitening - Green-eyed moon at which the wolves bay,

for which the wolves fight

Moons are mad, bad apples never ripening, bleached and bloodless but, come what may, surely a delight to bite

              I can't forget where you haven't been

              All that fresh flesh and untouched skin

              waiting to begin

              I won't sleep until you're back again

              And I won't forget and I believe in

              our first sin             

Still a moon's only a mirror, a vamp vaguely brightening, sucking sun rays

to come out at night 

Might be funny and may be frightening, but a lunar lady-god's got feet of clay

and moral short-sight

She wants to shine but she's hardly enlightening. Can she lead me to the day

with her brittle bone of light?

Will she wring my heart with her cold hold tightening? Will I howl and pray

for flight from her sight? For escape from her night

              Oh come to me my flame for this waiting's wearing thin

              I'm beauty without a beholder, I'm God without a hymn,

              a star going dim

              I can't forget the first meeting of our lips

              And I can't forget  and I already miss

              our next kiss

              And I can't forget where you haven't been

              All that fresh flesh and untouched skin

              waiting to begin

              And I won't sleep until you're back again

              I won't forget and I  believe in

              our first sin

LA BALLADE DE FABRICE ET CLÉLIA

Fabrice del Dongo était beau ; il faisait mal aux yeux

Même sa tante était rouge de honte face à son cher neveu

Oui la sublime Sanseverina, sa belle âme protectrice

tombait en proie aux pires émois devant son beau Fabrice :

              Dire que je l'ai vu naître, cet homme grave et gracieux !

              Se faire aimer par un tel délice serait bien trop délicieux !

Fabrice del Dongo était bête, un jeune noble exalté

Contre son sang bleu il part faire feu pour l'Empereur ranimé

Ce blanc-bec se jette dans la défaite française à Waterloo

De retour à Parme son sabre s'acharne sur un cabotin jaloux

A la porte de la prison ses yeux embrassent la fille du geôlier

et son cœur fondu à sa vue capitule face à cette pure beauté

 

              Quelle pensée profonde sous son front elle avait !

              Quel visage singulier ; elle saurait aimer

Clélia Conti était belle ; en elle les grâces naïves éclataient

et l'empreinte céleste de la noblesse de son âme le subjuguait 

Même la sublime Sanseverina, pétillante d'esprit et de malice -

la femme la plus brillante du pays n'avait ainsi infecté Fabrice

              Comme ses yeux si beaux me restaient attachés !

              Quel regard de pitié ! Que de choses il exprimait !

Clélia Conti était sage ; elle se soumettait à son père

bien qu'il soit la définition même du vil courtisan vulgaire

Dire que ce Fabio Conti enfermait la clef de son cœur ; 

La vie sur terre était pour elle un tissu de malheurs

              O pouvoir absolu, quand cesseras-tu de peser

              ainsi sur l'Italie ? De l'esprit libre tuer ?

              Ô âmes vénales et basses ! Ô ignorance crasse !

              Et moi la fille du geôlier : ô combien j'en suis lasse !

L'amour s'est fait à la prison, par regards et par signes

Dans l'intimité la plus parfaite, par leur alphabet intime

Des jours, des semaines, des mois ; contre les grilles et la loi

Il se sont liés sans mot prononcé de la plus profonde des fois

              Combien je suis différent du petit libertin léger

              qui entra ici il y neuf mois ! L'amour m'a changé

De ce paradis terrestre il ne voulait pas être exclu

Mais Fabrice était menacé ; l'arsenic était au menu

Clélia lui ordonna de se sauver pour sauver sa vie

Avec l'aide de sa tante et de sa future amante son évasion fut réussie

Mais Clélia avait honte d'avoir son père ainsi trahi

Les pires affres transperçaient l'âme de cette pieuse fille

Après une journée de larmes versées à la chapelle

elle se rendit à la citadelle pour faire ce qu'on attendait d'elle

Elle a cédé à l'ordre d'épouser Crescenzi le Marquis

dont l'or et la place à la cour son père avaient bassement séduit

Clélia Conti était bête donc il lui fallait obéir

Son père s'en est réjouit mais ensuite la fille a fait pire :

Car Clélia craignait Dieu au point de faire vœu

de ne plus poser ses beaux yeux sur son malheureux amoureux

              Adieu Fabrice, j'ai fait ma prière,

              en répandant les larmes les plus amères

              Des remords les plus vifs, je suis pénétrée

              mais le vœu est fait et jamais je ne vous reverrai

La brave dévote épouse donc une fortune pour son père

bien que ce chien ait tenté d'empoisonner l'élu de son cœur

Fabrice crache sa souffrance en prédicateur charismatique 

Sa langue envoûte la foule allumée par le feu de son cantique

Mais leur amour était bien trop fort pour mourir avant la mort

Et avec des vers de Pétrarque il rembarque la belle à son bord :

              "Non, vous ne me verrez jamais changer

              Beaux yeux qui m'avez appris à aimer"

              Entre ici, ami de mon cœur, je ne peux plus nous fuir

              Je viens te dire que je t'aime Fabrice, veux-tu m'obéir ?

              J'ai fait, tu le sais, vœu à la Madone de ne jamais plus te voir

              Tes beaux traits me sont interdits mais tes baisers, dans le noir...

                             je peux les boire

Dans l'obscurité profonde, les amants se sont retrouvés  

Sans bougies et sans soleil, les amants l'amour ont fait

Aux délices de la chair ils n'ont pas su résister

Et leurs errements comme leurs sottises sottement s'accumulaient :

Bien que Clélia fût la Marquise Crescenzi devenue

elle a fait un enfant avec l'amant qu'elle ne voyait plus

L'enfant mourut de la maladresse d'un affreux artifice

et Clélia le suivit de près, peu avant son cher Fabrice

Ils ne surent pas déjouer leur destin désastreux

Par manque d'esprit nos deux nantis ne surent pas jouer avec le feu

Au bout du compte nos deux anges avaient trop trahi les cieux

L'amour le plus parfait n'eut pas raison de leur dieu

              Entre ici, ami de mon cœur, je ne peux plus nous fuir

              Je viens te dire que je t'aime Fabrice, veux-tu m'obéir ?

              J'ai fait, tu le sais, vœu à la Madone de ne jamais plus te voir

              Ton beau visage m'est interdit mais tes baisers, au noir...

                            je peux les boire