Sunday 28 June 2015

That's how the light gets in

"Anthem"
by
Leonard Cohen

The birds they sang 
at the break of day 
Start again 
I heard them say 
Don't dwell on what 
has passed away 
or what is yet to be. 
Ah the wars they will 
be fought again 
The holy dove 
She will be caught again 
bought and sold 
and bought again 
the dove is never free. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in. 

We asked for signs 
the signs were sent: 
the birth betrayed 
the marriage spent 
Yeah the widowhood 
of every government -- 
signs for all to see. 

I can't run no more 
with that lawless crowd 
while the killers in high places 
say their prayers out loud. 
But they've summoned, they've summoned up 
a thundercloud 
and they're going to hear from me. 

Ring the bells that still can ring ... 

You can add up the parts 
but you won't have the sum 
You can strike up the march, 
there is no drum 
Every heart, every heart 
to love will come 
but like a refugee. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in. 
That's how the light gets in. 
That's how the light gets in.





There's a crack in everything

Take me down to the river bend,
Take me down to the fighting end,
Wash the poison from off my skin
Show me how to be whole again





Fly me up on a silver wing
Past the black where the sirens sing
Warm me up in a nova's glow
And drop me down to the dream below

(Chorus)
Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything left for you to see.
For you to see

Bring me home in blinding dream
Through the secrets that I have seen
Wash the sorrow from off my skin
And show me how to be whole again

(Chorus)
Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything left for you to see.
For you to see

Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything else I need to be

(Chorus)
Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass
Hardly anything there for you to see.
For you to see
For you to see




Wednesday 24 June 2015

Fear in your heart

L'amore non ha paura, ma, qualsiasi aspetto della tua scelta io consideri, non riesco a vedere niente altro che la paura come motore della tua decisione. Paura che ti lasciassi per un' altra, paura che non ti amassi quanto ho amato mia moglie, paura che mi pentissi di averti seguita, paura che ti ferissi come altri ti avevano ferita, paura che io diventassi piu' importante del tuo lavoro, paura di abbandonare lo stile di vita cui sei abituata per stare con me. Paura, paura, paura. Solo paura. Hai vissuto la nostra storia in preda alla paura e la paura ti ha infine portata via e persa. C'e' mai stato spazio per vero amore nel tuo cuore? Perche' alla fine, di sicuro, non c'e' piu' stato spazio per me.




There is no fear in love, but whichever aspect of your choice I consider, I can't see anything but fear as driving force behind your decision. Fear that I could leave you for another woman, fear that I couldn't love you as much as I loved my wife, fear that I could regret my choice to follow you, fear that I would hurt you as others did, fear that I could become more important for you than your own job, fear of  abandoning for my sake the life style you're used to. Fear, fear, fear. Nothing but fear. You lived our relationship in the grip of fear and the fear led you astray. Has there ever been space for real love in your heart? 'Cause, for sure, there was no space for me in the end.

Sunday 21 June 2015

You can forsake it, but you'll never forget it

Potremmo scambiarci un anello, a suggello del giuramento che sara' per sempre. Ma sfilarsi un anello dal dito e' cosa di un attimo. Potremmo tatuarci sul corpo la promessa di amore senza fine, ma poche sedute di laser ed anche un tatuaggio puo' essere rimosso. Ma se ci infliggessimo una ferita profonda, la' dove e' piu' doloroso, per segnare il nostro corpo con una cicatrice profonda, ecco che in questo modo porremmo su noi il marchio indelebile del nostro amore, urlando col dolore dell' anima quella promessa di amore eterno. Una promessa che potremo anche infrangere, ma che non potremo mai dimenticare.

Ma cio' che tu hai fatto e' insensato: ti sei inflitta quella ferita, ti sei marchiata con una profonda cicatrice, ma non hai mai voluto pronunciare quella promessa.




We could give a ring to each other, as seal of our oath that it will be forever. But to pull it out from your finger would be a blink of eye. We could draw a tattoo on our body to represent such a promise. But with few laser sessions even a tattoo can be removed. But if we inflict a deep wound to ourselves, there were the pain would be the most, to score a scar on our body, there we would lay the indelible mark of our love, crying with the sorrow of our soul that everlasting vow of love. A vow which we can forsake, but that we will never forget.

But what you did is insane: you inflicted that wound to your body, you marked your soul with a deep scar, but you've never wanted to utter such promise.


Because I'm Mars...

...the god of war,
and I
will cut
you down.


Friday 19 June 2015

Happy birthday!!!

Il 27 di marzo di ogni singolo anno, ricevevo una telefonata sul cellulare intorno alle 6:30 di mattina. Generalmente a quell' ora stavo guidando il mio camion giu' per una strada montana tutta curve e tornanti per andare a lavoro, quindi la chiamata non era certo graditissima.
-Pronto?
-Auguri!- diceva la voce di mio padre.
-Per cosa?- chiedevo io.
-Non e' il tuo compleanno?
... (momento di silenzio pensieroso)
-Ah, si'... e' vero. Grazie.
Ci tenevo cosi' tanto al mio compleanno che me ne dimenticavo, puntualmente, ogni anno. Ma quella telefonata mi riportava alla dura realta', quello del carosello di telefonate che sarebbe cominciato la sera, esattamente appena rientrato a casa e bisognoso di una doccia oppure mentre ero sul punto di addentare il primo boccone di una cena che si sarebbe raffreddata. Nonne e zie. Queste ultime, tre e sorde come campane.
-AUGURI!
-Grazie.
-COME?
-GRAZIE!
-COME?
-GRAZIE!!!
-AH!
E questo con tutte e tre e non una sola volta, perche' le tre zitelle si avvicendavano al telefono molte volte. ASPETTA CHE TI PASSO LA ZIA LINA! ASPETTA CHE LA ZIA ROSA TI VUOLE PARLARE! ASPETTA CHE TI PASSO LA ZIA LIDIA! E cosi' via, due o tre volte.


Allora, a questo punto avrete capito che non mi piacciono gli auguri per il mio compleanno. Il 17 di giugno scorso, ironia della sorta, ho ricevuto numerosi auguri di compleanno su FaceBook. Come dite? Non vi tornano le date? E proprio questo e' il punto. Vado a spiegarlo.
Quando ho creato un profilo su FaceBook non volevo metterci la data di nascita, per lo meno non quella vera. Per nessun motivo in particolare, solo non mi andava. Del resto su quel profilo non c'e' niente di me, eccetto il medaglione che mi rappresenta e le mie idee. Certo, molto piu' di quello che mettono tante altre persone, ma ugualmente... Il problema, pero', e' che FB puo' chiederti la data di nascita come domanda di sicurezza, e io sono un disastro con le date. Qual e' l'unico compleanno che non mi sono mai scordato? Quello della mia ex, ovviamente. Che poi e' lo stesso giorno del compleanno della mia ex-moglie. E cosi' ho messo quella data. Invisibile. Sennonche' le donne con cui chattavo su FB mi chiedevano sempre l'eta', era diventata una scocciatura, anche perche' mi ritrovavo a fare conversazioni molto serie con ragazzine appena piu' grandi di mio figlio. Quindi ho deciso di rendere visibile l'anno. Ma io e la tecnologia abbiamo litigato quand'ero bambino ed ora non riusciamo a comprenderci, ed invece dell'anno ho reso visibili il giorno ed il mese. Ed ecco la pioggia di auguri indesiderati. Doppiamente indesiderati, dato che tutti mi hanno fatto gli auguri per il compleanno della mia ex. Triplamente indesiderati, perche' fare gli auguri su FB e' di un'aridita' incredibile! Chi mi conosce di persona dovrebbe sapere quando e' il mio compleanno e se non lo sa o non lo ricorda ma chi se ne frega, non misuro certo l'amicizia su queste cose. Chi malapena mi ha incontrato una o due volte, o chi non mi ha mai incontrato, certo non e' tenuto a sapere quando e' il mio compleanno e si potrebbe pensare che fanno una cosa carina a farmi gli auguri perche' FB ha detto loro che compio gli anni. Un'amica mi ha anche detto che dovrei rigraziarvi, a voi che appartenete a questa categoria, e a dire il vero ci avevo anche pensato. Ma grazie a Dio ho resistito alla tentazione :). Sono un perfetto sconosciuto, e detto fuori dei denti a voi non ve frega niente di me. Ed e' normale. Se cambiassi la data di compleanno e la mettessi un giorno a caso del mese prossimo sareste nuovamente li' a farmi gli auguri perche've lo dice FB (cosa gia' sperimentata, anche se non da me, ed accaduta). Insomma, gli auguri su FB sono la prova che le relazioni interpersonali sono ormai vuote, finte ed inutili. Prima abbiamo smesso di ricordarci a mente i numeri di telefono perche' tanto li avevamo nella memoria del cellulare, poi abbiamo smesso di ricordarci il giorno di nascita degli amici (e magari della moglie) perche' tanto c'era FB a ricordarcelo. Quale sara' la prossima cosa che ci sentiremo giustificati a non tenere a mente e a cui smetteremo cosi' di dare importanza? Allattare il bimbo perche' tanto c'e' la tata robot che se lo ricorda? Le cose che per noi sono importanti ce le ricordiamo, le teniamo nella memoria, giusto? Ma si puo' anche ribaltare il concetto: le cose che ci teniamo nella memoria (non del cellulare!) sono importanti. Com'e' il detto? Lontano dagli "occhi della mente" lontano dal cuore. 

Ovviamente sono io quello sbagliato, non ve la prendete a male per questo mio sfogo, non irritatevi perche' mi permetto di dire che ci stanno rubando l'anima. Pero' gli auguri su FB non mi hanno fatto piacere: ne' dagli amici, con cui ovviamente non sono minimamente risentito ci tengo a chiarire, ne' dagli sconosciuti, che non voglio giudicare solo perche' si sono conformati all'uso comune. Ma a questo punto, chi di voi vuole mandarmi a fanculo si senta libero di farlo, in pubblico o in privato. Il vostro vaffanculo, ecco, quello sara' apprezzato! Perche' sicuramente verra' dal cuore.



The 27th of March of every single year I used to receive a call on my mobile phone, normally around 6:30 am. At that time I was driving my van down for a windy mountain road to go to work. Thus the call wasn't really appreciated.
-Hello?
It was my father: -Best wishes! (I know it isn't the form used in English, but it's the best translation from Italian use, I think)
-For what?!?
-Isn't it your birthday?
... (long moment of thoughtful silence)
-Oh, yes... it is... thank you.
I cared so much about my birthday that I usually forgot it. Every year. But that call brought me back to the hard reality: a carousel of phone calls which punctually started in the evening as soon as I stepped inside home desperately needing a shower or when I was about to give the first bite to a dinner doomed to get cold. Grandmas and aunts. The last ones were three in all and stone deaf.
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
-Thank you.
-WHAT?
-THANK YOU!
-WHAT?
-THANK YOU!!!
-AH!
And this with all of them and not just once, since the three spinsters took it in turn on the phone many time each. WAIT I'LL PASS YOU AUNTY LINA! WAIT THAT AUNTIE ROSA WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU! WAIT THAT I'LL PASS YOU AUNTY LIDIA! And so on, twice or thrice. 

Okay, at this point you'd have understood that I don't like any wishes for my birthday. The last 17th of June, irony, I received many messages of happy birthday on FaceBook. What did you say? The dates don't match? Of course, they don't match. I explain why.
When I created my FaceBook profile I didn't want to put my date of birth, at least not the real one. For no particular reason, I just didn't like it. After all, on that profile, there's nothing of me except my medallion and my thoughts and ideas. True, it's much more than many people put on their profile, but still... The problem is that FB could ask you your date of birth as a security question, and I always mess it with dates. Which is the only birthday I've never forgotten? My ex-girlfriend's birthday, of course. Which is, by the way, my ex-wife's birthday too. So I put that date. Invisible. However, the women I chatted with always wanted to know how old I am, and it had become annoying, even more, because sometimes I found myself to talk seriously with girls slightly older than my son. Therefore I decided to make the year of birth public. When I was a child I had an argument with the technology and now we don't understand each other: instead of the year, I made public the day and the month... Thus the rain of undesired "happy birthday!". Doubly undesired, since everyone wished me happy birthday for my ex's birthday. Triply undesired, because to wish happy birthday on FB is something really arid! Who know me personally should know my date of birth and if he doesn't know or forgets it I don't give a damn: it's not this the measure of friendship. Who hardly met me once or twice, or even has never met me, is not surely compelled to know it and we could think is kind to send a message because FB told them that is my birthday. A friend of mine told me I should say thanks to all these people, and I even thought to say so. But thanks to God I tackled the temptation :). I'm a perfect stranger and you don't give a damn about me and that's normal. If I would change my date of birth for a random day of the next month you would send me other wishes of a happy birthday because FB tells you. It had happened. So, happy birthday messages on FB are the proof that interpersonal relationships are empty, false and pretty much useless. First, we began to forget phone numbers, because we had them in the mobile memory; then we began to forget friends' birthday (maybe even our wife's) because FB was there to remind it to us. What will it be the next thing we feel justified to forget and so depriving it of importance? Maybe to feed our baby because the robotic nanny will remember to do it? We remember what is important for us, we keep it in memory, isn't it? But we can overturn the concept: what we keep in memory (not that of the phone, of course) is important. What's the saying? Far from the eyes (of the mind) far from the heart.

Obviously, I am the wrong one, don't get offence from this my outburst; don't get upset because I dare to utter that our souls are stolen. But all those happy birthdays on FB didn't please me: nor from my friends, who I'm absolutely not upset with, nor from the strangers, who I don't judge because they conformed themselves with the common uses. At this point, feel free to say me "Fuck you!" if you wish it. Your "Fuck you!" will really be appreciated! Because I'm sure it will come from your heart.

Sunday 14 June 2015

Carnival of Rust




D' you breathe the name of your saviour in your hour of need,
And taste the blame if the flavor should remind you of greed?
Of implication, insinuation and ill will, 'til you cannot lie still,
In all this turmoil, before red cape and foil come closing in for a kill

Come feed the rain
'cause I'm thirsty for your love dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah, feed the rain
'cause without your love my life ain't nothing but this carnival of rust

It's all a game, avoiding failure, when true colors will bleed
All in the name of misbehavior and the things we don't need
I lust for after no disaster can touch, touch us anymore
And more than ever, I hope to never fall, where enough is not the same it was before

Come feed the rain...
'cause I'm thirsty for your love dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah, feed the rain
'cause without your love my life ain't nothing but this carnival of rust
Yeah, feed the rain
'cause I'm thirsty for your love dancing underneath the skies of lust
Yeah, feed the rain
'cause without your love my life ain't nothing but this carnival of rust

Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the world is burning
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the heart is yearning
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the world is burning
Don't walk away, don't walk away, oh, when the heart is yearning

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Grab your dick and double-click...

...for porn, porn, porn!



And what about Miss Thistletwat*?


*Signorina Fica di Cardo.

Thursday 4 June 2015

Pull me under




Lost in the sky
Clouds roll by
and I roll with them
Arrows fly
Seas increase
and then fall again

This world is spinning around me
This world is spinning without me
Every day send future to past
Every breath leaves me one less
to my last

Watch the sparrow falling
Gives new meaning to it all
If not today nor yet tomorrow
then some other day

I'll take seven lives for one
And then my only father's son
As sure as I did ever love him
I am not afraid

This world is spinning around me
The whole world keeps
spinning around me
All life is future to past
Every breath leaves me one less
to my last

Pull me under Pull me under
Pull me under I'm not afraid
All that I feel is honor and spite
All I can do is set it right

Dust fills my eyes
Clouds roll by
and I roll with them
Centuries cry
Orders fly
and I fall again

This world is spinning inside me
The whole world is
spinning inside of me
Every day sends future to past
Every step brings me closer
to my last

Pull me under Pull me under
Pull me under I'm not afraid
Living my life too much in
the sun
Only until your will is done

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Theseus in the labyrinth

Guardate Teseo, si e' perso nel labirinto! Arianna, la traditrice, ha tagliato il filo e lo ha abbandonato. Non puo' piu' trovare la via d'uscita ed il Minotauro gli sta dando la caccia lungo i corridoi che si avvolgono su se' stessi. Piritoo pure gli ha voltato la schiena nel momento del bisogno, Perigune lo deride e gli rinfaccia di averla stuprata, mentre e' suo padre Egeo che versa il veleno nella coppa che Medea gli offrira'. Teseo non ha piu' vele bianche, ogni vela della sua imbarcazione e' nera, ed anche i suoi compagni della nave Argo sono scomparsi: Orfeo non canta per lui, Peleo lo incolpa davanti ad Eris, Giasone lo spinge verso il drago e Castore lo vende in cambio dell'immortalita'. Che altro puo' fare Teseo, se non procedere verso il centro del labirinto, in cerca del Minotauro, ed una volta che lo abbia trovato ucciderlo? Ma forse, forse non e' il Minotauro il suo nemico. E forse, se non e' possibile trovare una via d'uscita dal labirinto, e' comunque possibile viverci. Forse.

Teseo e' solo. 

Teseo ha molte colpe da scontare.


Look at Theseus, he got lost in the labyrinth! The treacherous Ariadne severed the thread and abandoned him. He cannot find the way out any more, while the Minotaur is stalking him down the tunnels which fold on themselves. Even Pirithous forsook him in the time of the need, Perigune throws back in his face of  when he raped her and his father Aegeus is poring the poison in the goblet which Medea will hand out to him. Theseus has no more white sails, any sails on his boat is black, and even his pals from the ship Argo are disappeared: Orpheus doesn't sing for him any more, Peleus blames him in front of ErisJason pushes him towards the dragon and Castor sells him out for immortality. What else can Theseus do, except moving towards the labyrinth's core, searching the Minotaur to slay him? But maybe, maybe the Minotaur is not Theseus' enemy. And maybe, even if it's not possible to find the way out from the labyrinth, it's nevertheless possible to live in it. Maybe.

Theseus is alone.

Theseus has many guilts to atone for.