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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Sabina's song on getting old: Now that...

this is my translation of sabina's "ahora que"... reading it, in light of my last post, i'm reminded of the shallowness of the traditional "i'm too old for .." that i hear these days... at least sabina, after deciding he was old, at the more dignified age of 50 was able to tap into his experience and come up with something that transmits the feelings/thoughts associated with being old...

now that..

now that we kiss so slowly
now that i learn ballroom dances
now that a boarding house is a palace where space is never lacking for more than one heart

now that the flowergirls greet me
now that i'm majoring in lingerie
now that i undress you and you undress me and, in the station of doubts, dies a nearby train

now that we stay in the bed
monday, tuesday and holy days
now that i don't remember the pajama nor cut out the crossword puzzle
nor kill myself if you leave

now that i have a soul i didn't have
now that handclaps sound for joys
now that nothing is sacred
nor still rains "sobre mojado" (colloquialism meaning to rain on whats been rained upon already)
now that we make waves to bother
now that the solitude is no longer so lonely
now that all the stories seem like the story of never beginning

now that.........
now that the world has just been painted
now that the storms are so brief and the deaths don't dare hurt us too much

now that forgetfulness is so far
now that i perfume myself every day
now that, without knowing, we've known loving each other as it should be, without still loving each other

now that the weeks crash into each other, ephemeral, like stars form baghdad
now that, almost always, i have the desire to climb to your window and take off my disguise

now that the senses sense sans fear
now that i excuse myself but i stay
now that the eyes touch
the mouths look
the fingers shout
now that there are no vaccines
or litanies

now that the police is on the moon
now that the cars expode,
that i dream at night and sleep in the daytime
now that i don't write you when i leave
now that i'm more alive than i am
now that nothing is urgent,
that everything is the present,
that there is bread for today.
now that i don't ask you for what you give me
now that i don't measure myself against the others
now that all the stories seem like the story of never beginning.

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