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Santies

John Cale

Santies

She was so afraid
Since her mother, white with time,
Told her
She was a failure

She was so ashamed
Of everything she said
And everything she did
For her mother, white with time

Everything around her mother
White with time
And dirty
Her mother was greedy with dirt
Greedy

Then she heard choirs of angels
Singing choirs of angels
Greedy angels
Spitting glory on her failure
That stardust of failure
As if it was medicine that didn’t work
Any way
Anyway
The windows
They were closed
And the midwives had locked their doors
They didn’t understand
And after all, what was there to understand?
But the angels
Sheer choirs of angels
In a friendship
No, more than a friendship
It was a marriage
A marriage made in the grave

In the shivering night
The searching of the river continued
That bullet of searchlight
That searchlight
Found her so cockleshell and sure
Sick and tired of what she saw
But cockleshell and sure

Sure of what the world had offered a tired soul
From istanbul to madrid
From reykjavik, to bonn
To leipzig, to leningrad
To shanghai, pnonm penh
All so that it would be a stronger world
A strong, though loving, world
To die in

Santies

Ela estava tão assustada
Desde que sua mãe, branca pelo tempo,
Disse a ela
Que ela era um fracasso

Ela estava tão envergonhada
De tudo que dizia
E tudo que fazia
Para sua mãe, branca pelo tempo

Tudo ao redor de sua mãe
Branca pelo tempo
E sujo
Sua mãe era gananciosa com a sujeira
Gananciosa

Então ela ouviu coros de anjos
Cantando coros de anjos
Anjos gananciosos
Cuspindo glória em seu fracasso
Aquele pó de estrela do fracasso
Como se fosse remédio que não funcionava
De jeito nenhum
De qualquer forma
As janelas
Estavam fechadas
E as parteiras trancaram suas portas
Elas não entendiam
E afinal, o que havia para entender?
Mas os anjos
Puros coros de anjos
Em uma amizade
Não, mais do que uma amizade
Era um casamento
Um casamento feito na cova

Na noite tremulante
A busca pelo rio continuava
Aquela bala de holofote
Aquele holofote
A encontrou tão firme e certa
Cansada e farta do que via
Mas firme e certa

Certa do que o mundo oferecia a uma alma cansada
De Istambul a Madri
De Reykjavik a Bonn
De Leipzig a Leningrado
De Xangai a Phnom Penh
Tudo para que fosse um mundo mais forte
Um mundo forte, embora amoroso
Para morrer.

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