Friday, October 22, 2004

Lisbon (6)

The woman enunciates di cuore
Begins a talk on Singapore
Does English traverse from here all the way to Singapore?
What an express train indeed
Singapore, Hong Kong
Penetrated by English and the capital
A visage anglais
Asian islands pierced together
Let's fall apart yes let's
Quit this busy, money-centered world
And disperse in a fugue
Ne parles pas, toi, des "Asian values"
Mon amie inconnue
Ce n'est qu'un fantasme rape
Des ideologies opportunistes
It hides something thinking it's valuable
It's an eclipse in your soul
The values promoted by the island's government
Justified her suppositions, so it seems
But all the governments confine
The refugees outside of their fine conneries
Don't they?
Now a Portuguese woman went out
She had a beautiful necklace
On her neck as beautifully shaped as Mary of Fatima
As if it was a ribbon attached to her class
Na minha casa ha uma cozinheira portuguesa
Chez moi il y a une bonne malagache
I have a swimming teacher from Sweden at home
And I used to have a dah (nursemaid) from a southern island
After finishing her compulsory education she came to live with us
She carried me on her back day in day out
Sang a strange melody
And cried
Her tears ran down on me
And I was salted like a cod in a blanket
Why was the prime minister of Singapore
So confident in his decisions?
I envy him
People become so confident, don't they
Once they learn the words such as "economics"
Or "political science"
I'd prefer meteology and mineralogy
I beg you then, friends, to carry the 21st century
I'll drop it all
I always have
Will it one day end (I should hope) such
A bedrock coated with money and confidence?