MURMURE

VIRGIN OF THE NOISE

Forgive me
For seven times at least
For all the things you’ll never know
Forgive me
Spread on me the hyssopus
And I’ll be white as snow
And bring me
Where the rivers raise their voice
To the virgin of the noise

SPARROW

A sparrow’s shaking on the roof
With a worm inside its beak
My grandma is reading and I’m six
The sky is black, the house a shelter
Everything is calm and still
Nothing seems to be unreal

And still falls the rain
Over the streets of this town
I can breathe
It’s just another frame
It’s just another frame

In the attic there’s a picture
Of a girl that smiles at me
A strange machine is full of dust
The sky is black, the room of wood
Everything is calm and still
Nothing seems to be unreal

And still falls the rain
Over the streets of this town
I can breathe
It’s just another frame
It’s just another frame

Yesterday I walked in
All the things were in their place
The crossword puzzle left undone
The sky was black, the window closed
Everything was calm and still
Nothing seems to be unreal

And still falls the rain
Over the streets of this town
I can breathe
It’s just another frame
Like any another frame

GARDEN OF LOVE
From “The Garden of Love” by William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst
Where I used to play on the green.
And all the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And “Thou shalt not” writ over the door.

Come and see
What’s inside the ossuary
Under the creepers
And climbers

Come and see
What’s inside the ossuary
Under the skin and flesh
And organs.

So I turn’d to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be.
And all the Priests were walking their rounds,
binding with briars, my joys & desires.

Come and see
What’s inside the ossuary
Under the creepers
And climbers

Come and see
What’s inside the ossuary
Under the skin and flesh
And organs in my chest

CONJUNCTIONS

It’s hard to tell what’s in between
If i am the rook and you are the king
But when we castle we are not apart
Moving together i had a change of heart

Yours and mine
We’ll combine
Swinging and swaying
On the same line

It’s hard to say How could we agree
If i am the mountain and you are the sea
But if the river follows its stream
We’ll drink the water of the same glowing spring

How to balance
Yours and mine
Without oversimplifying?
Will we always have the right words
Or the nerve to say goodbye?
When it’s time again to move apart

How could we lie under the same bright stars
If i’m from pluto and you are from mars?
one day we’ll rest on the very same floor
They say in 2854

How to balance
Yours and mine
Without oversimplifying?
Will we always have the right words
Or the nerve to say goodbye?
When it’s time again to part

Yours and mine
We’ll combine
Swinging and swaying
On the same line

SPUTNIK 5

Seven in the morning and I stare into your eyes
Outside there’s a wall of fog, I feel I’m almost blind
I don’t want to cross again those fields of rice
You say there is no Cross waiting for me, no sacrifice

The brook is frozen like my hands on the handlebars,
This waste land is so desolate that I could be on Mars.
Or Jupiter where gravity pushes on my shoulders
Or Mercury where I would be eighty years older

But I would recognize your shape reflecting in the stars
Even at light-years of distance
Through the superclusters and the interstellar clouds
It’s the shiniest reason I could find
To come to Earth and leave all things behind

Seven in the evening and the sun is going down
My spaceship is a bicycle that falls into the ground
Sinking from the water of the rice-fields all around
to the darkest ocean where there isn’t any sound

But I would recognize your voice resounding in the sea
Even at a league of distance
Through the coral reeves and the calls I can’t perceive
It’s the sweetest motif I could find
To come afloat and leave all things behind

SAMBA MACABRE

Dance with me this time
I won’t treat you
Like the previous one

I won’t be your wife
Just a voodoo mask
Of your desire

I will look into your eyes
While following the rhythm of this rattle
And you’ll look at me
Like John the Baptist on the plate of Salomè

I’m not interested in teaching steps
and keeping time of your contortions
I am just a prayer
That is waiting for the body of the Lord

Come with me again
You won’t remember the pain

Stay with me
This time
You won’t lose your head
Like your friends did

And will be forever
Till death do us part

I will look into your eyes
While following the rhythm of this rattle
And you’ll look at me
Like Greek heroes see Medusa and turn to stone

I’m not interested in learning
all the perfect moves to be the prom queen

I am just a beast
and I can love you if I drain your heart to death

LA VALSE DU CONIFÈRE

Tous les conifères
sont des plantes ligneuses
d’un bois tendre
Les arbres plus grands
les plus âgés du monde
Les plus sages

Mais quand je vois
sur la montagne
des loups qui dansent
Je pense à mes branches
qui n’embrassent personne
C’est amer le destin du conifère

Sur le genévrier
il y a un oiseau qui siffle
la la la la
Sur ton beau sapin
il y a une étoile filante
qui ne brille plus

Plus je m’élève
et plus je m’enfonce
dans cette terre
qui m’est de bercaus
et qui est même mon martyre
C’est triste la vie du conifère

Mais quand il va neiger et tout devient silence
C’est là que je chante
C’est là que je suis le conifère

MINSTREL

In every word I say
There is something I betray
I get lost inside the stream
Of the images it skims

And every time I stay
There is someone I betray
There’s someone who doesn’t know
If I’m Right or if I’m wrong

When I feel
That it’s becoming real
I mystify the truth
I tell my stories

But the eyes
Can’t mislead
The song they sing is unintended
Like a bird call
Always rough and eternal

In every word I lip
There is something I secrete
Something secret that I hide
Like a silly lullaby

And every time I stay
There is someone I betray
There’s someone who doesn’t know
If I’m weak or if I’m strong

But the eyes
Can’t mislead
The song they sing is unintended
Like the snowfall
Always mild and eternal

CHURCHES

There are three boys by the riverside
They are like churches empty and dark
They are like dogs, ready to bark
There are three children playing in the park
They are like churches golden and cold
They are like boxers, ready to fall

There are three churches
In this tiny place
One is too big, one is too far
The third one is you, empty and dark
The third one is me, golden and cold

There are three women walking alone
They go to churches, bringing their bones
They are like trees, grasping at stones
There are three horses without a lord
They run through birches, they cry aloud
They are like churches, abandoned and proud

There are three churches
In this tiny place
One is too big, one is too far
The third one is you, grasping at stones
The third one is me, ready to fall

But when it’s Christmas, or when the baker dies
We all sing the songs, we suddenly care
We all go to churches with something to share.

GLACIERS

I moved the rocks
To let you walk
I melted glaciers
To prepare the ground

I climbed down
The mountain top
To wait for you
To greet you as a king

But you didn’t come, no.

I filled the lake
With rubble stones
To let you cross the valley and the woods

I purified
The waterfalls
To let you drink and wash
Like it was home

But you didn’t come, no.

Snowfields are undefiled
But sometimes in the morning
When sun rises up
The vision of your shadow
Appears to me, I stare, I stare

The alpenrose
I picked for you
Is drying out
And winter is so near

And you’ll never come, no.

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

I come from an alpine land,
I’m afraid of fragile grounds.
And on this boat there are no trees, nor roots to grab
You learned how to keep afloat
You’re so calm before the storm
That falls into the sea
rain will disappear
Like a phantom in the fog

Hold me, please, hold me
– Will I remember the smell of the grass on the moor? –
And take me there to the lighthouse
Where the beacon set the pace
Where the cliff deflects the waves

Hold me, please, hold me
– Will I remember the sound of the bell on the door? –
And take me there to the lighthouse
Where the keeper waits awake
Where the undertow won’t let us shake.