歌曲 | Leaving Beirut |
歌手 | Roger Waters |
专辑 | To Kill the Child |
下载 | Image LRC TXT |
[01:41.500] | So we left Beirut Willa and I |
[01:44.500] | He headed East to Baghdad and the rest of it |
[01:48.000] | I set out North on home |
[01:51.200] | I walked the five or six miles to the last of the street lamps |
[01:54.900] | And hunkered in the kerbside dusk |
[01:57.000] | Holding out my thumb |
[01:58.500] | In no great hope at the ramshackle procession of home bound traffic |
[02:03.500] | Success! |
[02:05.500] | An ancient Mercedes 'dolmus ' |
[02:08.000] | The ubiquitous Arab shared taxi drew up |
[02:11.800] | I turned out my pockets and shrugged at the driver |
[02:15.500] | " J'ai pas de l'argent " “ |
[02:17.900] | " Venez! " A soft voice from the back seat “ |
[02:20.800] | The driver lent wearily across and pushed open the back door |
[02:25.200] | I stooped to look inside at the two men there |
[02:28.000] | One besuited, bespectacled, moustached, irritated, distant, late |
[02:33.800] | The other, the one who had spoken, |
[02:36.800] | Frail, fifty five-ish, bald, sallow, in a short sleeved pale blue cotton shirt |
[02:43.000] | With one biro in the breast pocket |
[02:45.000] | A clerk maybe, slightly sunken in the seat |
[02:48.800] | "Venez!" He said again, and smiled “ |
[02:52.300] | "Mais j'ai pas de l'argent" “ |
[02:53.600] | "Oui, Oui, d'accord, Venez!" |
[02:58.600] | Are these the people that we should bomb |
[03:05.300] | Are we so sure they mean us harm |
[03:12.500] | Is this our pleasure, punishment or crime |
[03:19.000] | Is this a mountain that we really want to climb |
[03:25.900] | The road is hard, hard and long |
[03:32.750] | Put down that two by four |
[03:35.400] | This man would never turn you from his door |
[03:39.900] | Oh George! Oh George! |
[03:45.600] | That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small |
[03:53.600] | He beckoned with a small arthritic motion of his hand |
[03:57.300] | Fingers together like a child waving goodbye |
[04:01.600] | The driver put my old Hofner guitar in the boot with my rucksack |
[04:05.100] | And off we went |
[04:07.650] | " Vous etes Francais, monsieur? " “ |
[04:09.300] | " Non, Anglais " |
[04:10.400] | " Ah! Anglais " |
[04:13.000] | " Est-ce que vous parlais Anglais, Monsieur? " “ |
[04:14.950] | "Non, je regrette" “ |
[04:17.200] | And so on |
[04:18.300] | In small talk between strangers, his French alien but correct |
[04:23.000] | Mine halting but eager to please |
[04:25.300] | A lift, after all, is a lift |
[04:28.750] | Late moustache left us brusquely |
[04:30.800] | And some miles later the dolmus slowed at a crossroads lit by a single lightbulb |
[04:35.150] | Swung through a U-turn and stopped in a cloud of dust |
[04:39.000] | I opened the door and got out |
[04:41.100] | But my benefactor made no move to follow |
[04:47.400] | The driver dumped my guitar and rucksack at my feet |
[04:49.800] | And waving away my thanks returned to the boot |
[04:52.300] | Only to reappear with a pair of alloy crutches |
[04:55.300] | Which he leaned against the rear wing of the Mercedes. |
[04:59.050] | He reached into the car and lifted my companion out |
[05:02.000] | Only one leg, the second trouser leg neatly pinned beneath a vacant hip |
[05:06.900] | " Monsieur, si vous voulez, ca sera un honneur pour nous “ |
[05:09.700] | Si vous venez avec moi a la maison pour manger avec ma femme " |
[05:15.700] | When I was 17 my mother, bless her heart, fulfilled my summer dream |
[05:25.000] | She handed me the keys to the car |
[05:29.400] | We motored down to Paris, fuelled with Dexedrine and booze |
[05:35.350] | Got bust in Antibes by the cops |
[05:38.600] | And fleeced in Naples by the wops |
[05:43.000] | But everyone was kind to us, we were the English dudes |
[05:49.100] | Our dads had helped them win the war |
[05:52.470] | When we all knew what we were fighting for |
[05:56.800] | But now an Englishman abroad is just a US stooge |
[06:02.750] | The bulldog is a poodle snapping round the scoundrel's last refuge |
[06:10.500] | "Ma femme", thank God! Monopod but not queer “ |
[06:16.690] | The taxi drove off leaving us in the dim light of the swinging bulb |
[06:20.650] | No building in sight |
[06:22.200] | What the hell |
[06:23.900] | "Merci monsieur" “ |
[06:25.250] | "Bon, Venez!" |
[06:25.950] | His faced creased in pleasure, he set off in front of me |
[06:30.310] | Swinging his leg between the crutches with agonising care |
[06:33.700] | Up the dusty side road into the darkness |
[06:37.900] | After half an hour we'd gone maybe half a mile |
[06:40.700] | When on the right I made out the low profile of a building |
[06:44.500] | He called out in Arabic to announce our arrival |
[06:47.550] | And after some scuffling inside a lamp was lit |
[06:50.700] | And the changing angle of light in the wide crack under the door |
[06:53.850] | Signalled the approach of someone within |
[07:01.300] | The door creaked open and there, holding a biblical looking oil lamp |
[07:05.200] | Stood a squat, moustached woman, stooped smiling up at us |
[07:12.150] | She stood aside to let us in and as she turned |
[07:14.850] | I saw the reason for her stoop |
[07:16.120] | She carried on her back a shocking hump |
[07:19.550] | I nodded and smiled back at her in greeting, fighting for control |
[07:26.150] | The gentleness between the one-legged man and his monstrous wife |
[07:29.395] | America, America, please hear us when we call |
[07:29.900] | Almost too much for me |
[07:31.900] | Is gentleness too much for us |
[07:35.250] | Should gentleness be filed along with empathy |
[07:42.100] | We feel for someone else's child |
[07:46.030] | Every time a smart bomb does its sums and gets it wrong |
[07:52.725] | Someone else's child dies and equities in defence rise |
[08:05.875] | You got hip-hop, be-bop, hustle and bustle |
[08:09.150] | You got Atticus Finch |
[08:11.250] | You got Jane Russell |
[08:12.900] | You got freedom of speech |
[08:14.900] | You got great beaches, wildernesses and malls |
[08:19.850] | Don't let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up |
[08:24.950] | For you and the rest of the world |
[08:28.100] | They talked excitedly |
[08:29.850] | She went to take his crutches in routine of care |
[08:32.800] | He chiding, gestured |
[08:35.150] | We have a guest |
[08:36.700] | She embarrassed by her faux pas |
[08:38.650] | Took my things and laid them gently in the corner |
[08:42.450] | "Du the?" |
[08:44.500] | We sat on meagre cushions in one corner of the single room |
[08:47.500] | The floor was earth packed hard and by one wall a raised platform |
[08:51.700] | Some six feet by four covered by a simple sheet, the bed |
[08:57.000] | The hunchback busied herself with small copper pots over an open hearth |
[09:01.100] | And brought us tea, hot and sweet |
[09:03.865] | And so to dinner |
[09:05.400] | Flat, unleavened bread, + thin |
[09:08.050] | Cooked in an iron skillet in hearth |
[09:10.430] | Then folded and dipped into the soft insides of female sea urchins |
[09:19.600] | She would hear of nothing else, I was their guest |
[09:19.725] | My hostess did not eat, I ate her dinner |
[09:22.900] | And then she retired behind a curtain |
[09:25.675] | And left the men to sit drinking thimbleful of Arak |
[09:29.500] | Carefully poured from a small bottle with a faded label |
[09:32.900] | Soon she reappeared, radiant |
[09:35.695] | Carrying in her arms their pride and joy, their child. |
[09:41.880] | I'd never seen a squint like that |
[09:44.965] | So severe that as one eye looked out the other disappeared behind its nose |
[09:49.880] | Not in my name, Tony, you great war leader you |
[09:56.200] | Terror is still terror, whosoever gets to frame the rules |
[10:03.000] | History's not written by the vanquished or the damned |
[10:10.435] | Now we are Genghis Khan, Lucrezia Borghia, Son of Sam |
[10:16.400] | In 1961 they took this child into their home |
[10:23.300] | I wonder what became of them |
[10:26.550] | In the cauldron that was Lebanon |
[10:31.020] | If I could find them now, could I make amends? |
[10:37.800] | How does the story end? |
[10:45.000] | And so to bed, me that is, not them |
[10:51.000] | Of course they slept on the floor behind a curtain |
[10:55.000] | Whilst I lay awake all night on their earthen bed |
[10:58.850] | Then came the dawn and then their quiet stirrings |
[11:02.350] | I turned North, my guitar over my shoulder |
[11:02.600] | Careful not to wake the guest |
[11:05.200] | I yawned in great pretence |
[11:05.800] | And the first hot gust of wind |
[11:07.400] | And took the proffered bowl of water heated up and washed |
[11:08.100] | Quickly dried the salt tears from my young cheeks. |
[11:10.750] | And sipped my coffee in its tiny cup |
[11:13.330] | And then with much "merci-ing" and bowing and shaking of hands |
[11:17.050] | We left the woman to her chores |
[11:19.600] | And we men made our way back to the crossroads |
[11:23.300] | The painful slowness of our progress accentuated by the brilliant morning light |
[11:32.197] | The dolmus duly reappeared |
[11:35.000] | My host gave me one crutch and leaning on the other |
[11:37.550] | Shook my hand and smiled |
[11:40.000] | "Merci, monsieur," I said “ |
[11:42.200] | " De rien " “ |
[11:43.850] | " Et merci a votre femme, elle est tres gentille " “ |
[11:49.600] | Giving up his other crutch |
[11:50.850] | He allowed himself to be folded into the back seat again |
[11:54.500] | "Bon voyage, monsieur," he said “ |
[11:56.945] | And half bowed as the taxi headed south towards the city |
[01:41.500] | So we left Beirut Willa and I |
[01:44.500] | He headed East to Baghdad and the rest of it |
[01:48.000] | I set out North on home |
[01:51.200] | I walked the five or six miles to the last of the street lamps |
[01:54.900] | And hunkered in the kerbside dusk |
[01:57.000] | Holding out my thumb |
[01:58.500] | In no great hope at the ramshackle procession of home bound traffic |
[02:03.500] | Success! |
[02:05.500] | An ancient Mercedes ' dolmus ' |
[02:08.000] | The ubiquitous Arab shared taxi drew up |
[02:11.800] | I turned out my pockets and shrugged at the driver |
[02:15.500] | " J' ai pas de l' argent " " |
[02:17.900] | " Venez! " A soft voice from the back seat " |
[02:20.800] | The driver lent wearily across and pushed open the back door |
[02:25.200] | I stooped to look inside at the two men there |
[02:28.000] | One besuited, bespectacled, moustached, irritated, distant, late |
[02:33.800] | The other, the one who had spoken, |
[02:36.800] | Frail, fifty fiveish, bald, sallow, in a short sleeved pale blue cotton shirt |
[02:43.000] | With one biro in the breast pocket |
[02:45.000] | A clerk maybe, slightly sunken in the seat |
[02:48.800] | " Venez!" He said again, and smiled " |
[02:52.300] | " Mais j' ai pas de l' argent" " |
[02:53.600] | " Oui, Oui, d' accord, Venez!" |
[02:58.600] | Are these the people that we should bomb |
[03:05.300] | Are we so sure they mean us harm |
[03:12.500] | Is this our pleasure, punishment or crime |
[03:19.000] | Is this a mountain that we really want to climb |
[03:25.900] | The road is hard, hard and long |
[03:32.750] | Put down that two by four |
[03:35.400] | This man would never turn you from his door |
[03:39.900] | Oh George! Oh George! |
[03:45.600] | That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small |
[03:53.600] | He beckoned with a small arthritic motion of his hand |
[03:57.300] | Fingers together like a child waving goodbye |
[04:01.600] | The driver put my old Hofner guitar in the boot with my rucksack |
[04:05.100] | And off we went |
[04:07.650] | " Vous etes Francais, monsieur? " " |
[04:09.300] | " Non, Anglais " |
[04:10.400] | " Ah! Anglais " |
[04:13.000] | " Estce que vous parlais Anglais, Monsieur? " " |
[04:14.950] | " Non, je regrette" " |
[04:17.200] | And so on |
[04:18.300] | In small talk between strangers, his French alien but correct |
[04:23.000] | Mine halting but eager to please |
[04:25.300] | A lift, after all, is a lift |
[04:28.750] | Late moustache left us brusquely |
[04:30.800] | And some miles later the dolmus slowed at a crossroads lit by a single lightbulb |
[04:35.150] | Swung through a Uturn and stopped in a cloud of dust |
[04:39.000] | I opened the door and got out |
[04:41.100] | But my benefactor made no move to follow |
[04:47.400] | The driver dumped my guitar and rucksack at my feet |
[04:49.800] | And waving away my thanks returned to the boot |
[04:52.300] | Only to reappear with a pair of alloy crutches |
[04:55.300] | Which he leaned against the rear wing of the Mercedes. |
[04:59.050] | He reached into the car and lifted my companion out |
[05:02.000] | Only one leg, the second trouser leg neatly pinned beneath a vacant hip |
[05:06.900] | " Monsieur, si vous voulez, ca sera un honneur pour nous " |
[05:09.700] | Si vous venez avec moi a la maison pour manger avec ma femme " |
[05:15.700] | When I was 17 my mother, bless her heart, fulfilled my summer dream |
[05:25.000] | She handed me the keys to the car |
[05:29.400] | We motored down to Paris, fuelled with Dexedrine and booze |
[05:35.350] | Got bust in Antibes by the cops |
[05:38.600] | And fleeced in Naples by the wops |
[05:43.000] | But everyone was kind to us, we were the English dudes |
[05:49.100] | Our dads had helped them win the war |
[05:52.470] | When we all knew what we were fighting for |
[05:56.800] | But now an Englishman abroad is just a US stooge |
[06:02.750] | The bulldog is a poodle snapping round the scoundrel' s last refuge |
[06:10.500] | " Ma femme", thank God! Monopod but not queer " |
[06:16.690] | The taxi drove off leaving us in the dim light of the swinging bulb |
[06:20.650] | No building in sight |
[06:22.200] | What the hell |
[06:23.900] | " Merci monsieur" " |
[06:25.250] | " Bon, Venez!" |
[06:25.950] | His faced creased in pleasure, he set off in front of me |
[06:30.310] | Swinging his leg between the crutches with agonising care |
[06:33.700] | Up the dusty side road into the darkness |
[06:37.900] | After half an hour we' d gone maybe half a mile |
[06:40.700] | When on the right I made out the low profile of a building |
[06:44.500] | He called out in Arabic to announce our arrival |
[06:47.550] | And after some scuffling inside a lamp was lit |
[06:50.700] | And the changing angle of light in the wide crack under the door |
[06:53.850] | Signalled the approach of someone within |
[07:01.300] | The door creaked open and there, holding a biblical looking oil lamp |
[07:05.200] | Stood a squat, moustached woman, stooped smiling up at us |
[07:12.150] | She stood aside to let us in and as she turned |
[07:14.850] | I saw the reason for her stoop |
[07:16.120] | She carried on her back a shocking hump |
[07:19.550] | I nodded and smiled back at her in greeting, fighting for control |
[07:26.150] | The gentleness between the onelegged man and his monstrous wife |
[07:29.395] | America, America, please hear us when we call |
[07:29.900] | Almost too much for me |
[07:31.900] | Is gentleness too much for us |
[07:35.250] | Should gentleness be filed along with empathy |
[07:42.100] | We feel for someone else' s child |
[07:46.030] | Every time a smart bomb does its sums and gets it wrong |
[07:52.725] | Someone else' s child dies and equities in defence rise |
[08:05.875] | You got hiphop, bebop, hustle and bustle |
[08:09.150] | You got Atticus Finch |
[08:11.250] | You got Jane Russell |
[08:12.900] | You got freedom of speech |
[08:14.900] | You got great beaches, wildernesses and malls |
[08:19.850] | Don' t let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up |
[08:24.950] | For you and the rest of the world |
[08:28.100] | They talked excitedly |
[08:29.850] | She went to take his crutches in routine of care |
[08:32.800] | He chiding, gestured |
[08:35.150] | We have a guest |
[08:36.700] | She embarrassed by her faux pas |
[08:38.650] | Took my things and laid them gently in the corner |
[08:42.450] | " Du the?" |
[08:44.500] | We sat on meagre cushions in one corner of the single room |
[08:47.500] | The floor was earth packed hard and by one wall a raised platform |
[08:51.700] | Some six feet by four covered by a simple sheet, the bed |
[08:57.000] | The hunchback busied herself with small copper pots over an open hearth |
[09:01.100] | And brought us tea, hot and sweet |
[09:03.865] | And so to dinner |
[09:05.400] | Flat, unleavened bread, thin |
[09:08.050] | Cooked in an iron skillet in hearth |
[09:10.430] | Then folded and dipped into the soft insides of female sea urchins |
[09:19.600] | She would hear of nothing else, I was their guest |
[09:19.725] | My hostess did not eat, I ate her dinner |
[09:22.900] | And then she retired behind a curtain |
[09:25.675] | And left the men to sit drinking thimbleful of Arak |
[09:29.500] | Carefully poured from a small bottle with a faded label |
[09:32.900] | Soon she reappeared, radiant |
[09:35.695] | Carrying in her arms their pride and joy, their child. |
[09:41.880] | I' d never seen a squint like that |
[09:44.965] | So severe that as one eye looked out the other disappeared behind its nose |
[09:49.880] | Not in my name, Tony, you great war leader you |
[09:56.200] | Terror is still terror, whosoever gets to frame the rules |
[10:03.000] | History' s not written by the vanquished or the damned |
[10:10.435] | Now we are Genghis Khan, Lucrezia Borghia, Son of Sam |
[10:16.400] | In 1961 they took this child into their home |
[10:23.300] | I wonder what became of them |
[10:26.550] | In the cauldron that was Lebanon |
[10:31.020] | If I could find them now, could I make amends? |
[10:37.800] | How does the story end? |
[10:45.000] | And so to bed, me that is, not them |
[10:51.000] | Of course they slept on the floor behind a curtain |
[10:55.000] | Whilst I lay awake all night on their earthen bed |
[10:58.850] | Then came the dawn and then their quiet stirrings |
[11:02.350] | I turned North, my guitar over my shoulder |
[11:02.600] | Careful not to wake the guest |
[11:05.200] | I yawned in great pretence |
[11:05.800] | And the first hot gust of wind |
[11:07.400] | And took the proffered bowl of water heated up and washed |
[11:08.100] | Quickly dried the salt tears from my young cheeks. |
[11:10.750] | And sipped my coffee in its tiny cup |
[11:13.330] | And then with much " merciing" and bowing and shaking of hands |
[11:17.050] | We left the woman to her chores |
[11:19.600] | And we men made our way back to the crossroads |
[11:23.300] | The painful slowness of our progress accentuated by the brilliant morning light |
[11:32.197] | The dolmus duly reappeared |
[11:35.000] | My host gave me one crutch and leaning on the other |
[11:37.550] | Shook my hand and smiled |
[11:40.000] | " Merci, monsieur," I said " |
[11:42.200] | " De rien " " |
[11:43.850] | " Et merci a votre femme, elle est tres gentille " " |
[11:49.600] | Giving up his other crutch |
[11:50.850] | He allowed himself to be folded into the back seat again |
[11:54.500] | " Bon voyage, monsieur," he said " |
[11:56.945] | And half bowed as the taxi headed south towards the city |
[01:41.500] | So we left Beirut Willa and I |
[01:44.500] | He headed East to Baghdad and the rest of it |
[01:48.000] | I set out North on home |
[01:51.200] | I walked the five or six miles to the last of the street lamps |
[01:54.900] | And hunkered in the kerbside dusk |
[01:57.000] | Holding out my thumb |
[01:58.500] | In no great hope at the ramshackle procession of home bound traffic |
[02:03.500] | Success! |
[02:05.500] | An ancient Mercedes ' dolmus ' |
[02:08.000] | The ubiquitous Arab shared taxi drew up |
[02:11.800] | I turned out my pockets and shrugged at the driver |
[02:15.500] | " J' ai pas de l' argent " " |
[02:17.900] | " Venez! " A soft voice from the back seat " |
[02:20.800] | The driver lent wearily across and pushed open the back door |
[02:25.200] | I stooped to look inside at the two men there |
[02:28.000] | One besuited, bespectacled, moustached, irritated, distant, late |
[02:33.800] | The other, the one who had spoken, |
[02:36.800] | Frail, fifty fiveish, bald, sallow, in a short sleeved pale blue cotton shirt |
[02:43.000] | With one biro in the breast pocket |
[02:45.000] | A clerk maybe, slightly sunken in the seat |
[02:48.800] | " Venez!" He said again, and smiled " |
[02:52.300] | " Mais j' ai pas de l' argent" " |
[02:53.600] | " Oui, Oui, d' accord, Venez!" |
[02:58.600] | Are these the people that we should bomb |
[03:05.300] | Are we so sure they mean us harm |
[03:12.500] | Is this our pleasure, punishment or crime |
[03:19.000] | Is this a mountain that we really want to climb |
[03:25.900] | The road is hard, hard and long |
[03:32.750] | Put down that two by four |
[03:35.400] | This man would never turn you from his door |
[03:39.900] | Oh George! Oh George! |
[03:45.600] | That Texas education must have fucked you up when you were very small |
[03:53.600] | He beckoned with a small arthritic motion of his hand |
[03:57.300] | Fingers together like a child waving goodbye |
[04:01.600] | The driver put my old Hofner guitar in the boot with my rucksack |
[04:05.100] | And off we went |
[04:07.650] | " Vous etes Francais, monsieur? " " |
[04:09.300] | " Non, Anglais " |
[04:10.400] | " Ah! Anglais " |
[04:13.000] | " Estce que vous parlais Anglais, Monsieur? " " |
[04:14.950] | " Non, je regrette" " |
[04:17.200] | And so on |
[04:18.300] | In small talk between strangers, his French alien but correct |
[04:23.000] | Mine halting but eager to please |
[04:25.300] | A lift, after all, is a lift |
[04:28.750] | Late moustache left us brusquely |
[04:30.800] | And some miles later the dolmus slowed at a crossroads lit by a single lightbulb |
[04:35.150] | Swung through a Uturn and stopped in a cloud of dust |
[04:39.000] | I opened the door and got out |
[04:41.100] | But my benefactor made no move to follow |
[04:47.400] | The driver dumped my guitar and rucksack at my feet |
[04:49.800] | And waving away my thanks returned to the boot |
[04:52.300] | Only to reappear with a pair of alloy crutches |
[04:55.300] | Which he leaned against the rear wing of the Mercedes. |
[04:59.050] | He reached into the car and lifted my companion out |
[05:02.000] | Only one leg, the second trouser leg neatly pinned beneath a vacant hip |
[05:06.900] | " Monsieur, si vous voulez, ca sera un honneur pour nous " |
[05:09.700] | Si vous venez avec moi a la maison pour manger avec ma femme " |
[05:15.700] | When I was 17 my mother, bless her heart, fulfilled my summer dream |
[05:25.000] | She handed me the keys to the car |
[05:29.400] | We motored down to Paris, fuelled with Dexedrine and booze |
[05:35.350] | Got bust in Antibes by the cops |
[05:38.600] | And fleeced in Naples by the wops |
[05:43.000] | But everyone was kind to us, we were the English dudes |
[05:49.100] | Our dads had helped them win the war |
[05:52.470] | When we all knew what we were fighting for |
[05:56.800] | But now an Englishman abroad is just a US stooge |
[06:02.750] | The bulldog is a poodle snapping round the scoundrel' s last refuge |
[06:10.500] | " Ma femme", thank God! Monopod but not queer " |
[06:16.690] | The taxi drove off leaving us in the dim light of the swinging bulb |
[06:20.650] | No building in sight |
[06:22.200] | What the hell |
[06:23.900] | " Merci monsieur" " |
[06:25.250] | " Bon, Venez!" |
[06:25.950] | His faced creased in pleasure, he set off in front of me |
[06:30.310] | Swinging his leg between the crutches with agonising care |
[06:33.700] | Up the dusty side road into the darkness |
[06:37.900] | After half an hour we' d gone maybe half a mile |
[06:40.700] | When on the right I made out the low profile of a building |
[06:44.500] | He called out in Arabic to announce our arrival |
[06:47.550] | And after some scuffling inside a lamp was lit |
[06:50.700] | And the changing angle of light in the wide crack under the door |
[06:53.850] | Signalled the approach of someone within |
[07:01.300] | The door creaked open and there, holding a biblical looking oil lamp |
[07:05.200] | Stood a squat, moustached woman, stooped smiling up at us |
[07:12.150] | She stood aside to let us in and as she turned |
[07:14.850] | I saw the reason for her stoop |
[07:16.120] | She carried on her back a shocking hump |
[07:19.550] | I nodded and smiled back at her in greeting, fighting for control |
[07:26.150] | The gentleness between the onelegged man and his monstrous wife |
[07:29.395] | America, America, please hear us when we call |
[07:29.900] | Almost too much for me |
[07:31.900] | Is gentleness too much for us |
[07:35.250] | Should gentleness be filed along with empathy |
[07:42.100] | We feel for someone else' s child |
[07:46.030] | Every time a smart bomb does its sums and gets it wrong |
[07:52.725] | Someone else' s child dies and equities in defence rise |
[08:05.875] | You got hiphop, bebop, hustle and bustle |
[08:09.150] | You got Atticus Finch |
[08:11.250] | You got Jane Russell |
[08:12.900] | You got freedom of speech |
[08:14.900] | You got great beaches, wildernesses and malls |
[08:19.850] | Don' t let the might, the Christian right, fuck it all up |
[08:24.950] | For you and the rest of the world |
[08:28.100] | They talked excitedly |
[08:29.850] | She went to take his crutches in routine of care |
[08:32.800] | He chiding, gestured |
[08:35.150] | We have a guest |
[08:36.700] | She embarrassed by her faux pas |
[08:38.650] | Took my things and laid them gently in the corner |
[08:42.450] | " Du the?" |
[08:44.500] | We sat on meagre cushions in one corner of the single room |
[08:47.500] | The floor was earth packed hard and by one wall a raised platform |
[08:51.700] | Some six feet by four covered by a simple sheet, the bed |
[08:57.000] | The hunchback busied herself with small copper pots over an open hearth |
[09:01.100] | And brought us tea, hot and sweet |
[09:03.865] | And so to dinner |
[09:05.400] | Flat, unleavened bread, thin |
[09:08.050] | Cooked in an iron skillet in hearth |
[09:10.430] | Then folded and dipped into the soft insides of female sea urchins |
[09:19.600] | She would hear of nothing else, I was their guest |
[09:19.725] | My hostess did not eat, I ate her dinner |
[09:22.900] | And then she retired behind a curtain |
[09:25.675] | And left the men to sit drinking thimbleful of Arak |
[09:29.500] | Carefully poured from a small bottle with a faded label |
[09:32.900] | Soon she reappeared, radiant |
[09:35.695] | Carrying in her arms their pride and joy, their child. |
[09:41.880] | I' d never seen a squint like that |
[09:44.965] | So severe that as one eye looked out the other disappeared behind its nose |
[09:49.880] | Not in my name, Tony, you great war leader you |
[09:56.200] | Terror is still terror, whosoever gets to frame the rules |
[10:03.000] | History' s not written by the vanquished or the damned |
[10:10.435] | Now we are Genghis Khan, Lucrezia Borghia, Son of Sam |
[10:16.400] | In 1961 they took this child into their home |
[10:23.300] | I wonder what became of them |
[10:26.550] | In the cauldron that was Lebanon |
[10:31.020] | If I could find them now, could I make amends? |
[10:37.800] | How does the story end? |
[10:45.000] | And so to bed, me that is, not them |
[10:51.000] | Of course they slept on the floor behind a curtain |
[10:55.000] | Whilst I lay awake all night on their earthen bed |
[10:58.850] | Then came the dawn and then their quiet stirrings |
[11:02.350] | I turned North, my guitar over my shoulder |
[11:02.600] | Careful not to wake the guest |
[11:05.200] | I yawned in great pretence |
[11:05.800] | And the first hot gust of wind |
[11:07.400] | And took the proffered bowl of water heated up and washed |
[11:08.100] | Quickly dried the salt tears from my young cheeks. |
[11:10.750] | And sipped my coffee in its tiny cup |
[11:13.330] | And then with much " merciing" and bowing and shaking of hands |
[11:17.050] | We left the woman to her chores |
[11:19.600] | And we men made our way back to the crossroads |
[11:23.300] | The painful slowness of our progress accentuated by the brilliant morning light |
[11:32.197] | The dolmus duly reappeared |
[11:35.000] | My host gave me one crutch and leaning on the other |
[11:37.550] | Shook my hand and smiled |
[11:40.000] | " Merci, monsieur," I said " |
[11:42.200] | " De rien " " |
[11:43.850] | " Et merci a votre femme, elle est tres gentille " " |
[11:49.600] | Giving up his other crutch |
[11:50.850] | He allowed himself to be folded into the back seat again |
[11:54.500] | " Bon voyage, monsieur," he said " |
[11:56.945] | And half bowed as the taxi headed south towards the city |
[01:41.500] | 于是我和韦拉离开了贝鲁特 |
[01:44.500] | 他向东进发,往巴格达一边去 |
[01:48.000] | 我则面北启程还家 |
[01:51.200] | 我走着向街灯尽头去的那五六英里 |
[01:54.900] | 然后在路缘的阴凉处蹲下来 |
[01:57.000] | 向外伸着拇指 |
[01:58.500] | 对年久失修的向家去的通车不抱多大希望 |
[02:03.500] | 胜利! |
[02:05.500] | 是一辆老旧的梅赛德斯“共享的士” |
[02:08.000] | 那随处可见的阿拉伯共享的士停了下来 |
[02:11.800] | 我翻出我的口袋,对着司机耸耸肩 |
[02:15.500] | 我没有钱” |
[02:17.900] | 来吧!”后座一个轻柔的声音说道 |
[02:20.800] | 司机费力地把身体倾过座位,推开了后车门 |
[02:25.200] | 我弯腰看向里面的两个男人 |
[02:28.000] | 一个十分苍老了,穿着一整套衣服,戴着眼镜,蓄着髭,冷淡而略显不快 |
[02:33.800] | 另一个,刚刚说话的那人, |
[02:36.800] | 比较虚弱,大约五十五岁,秃顶,面色蜡黄,穿着淡蓝色短袖棉衫 |
[02:43.000] | 胸袋里揣着一支圆珠笔 |
[02:45.000] | 大概是一名职员,深陷在座位里 |
[02:48.800] | 来吧!”他再次说道,微笑起来 |
[02:52.300] | 但我没有钱” |
[02:53.600] | “是的,是的,我同意。上来吧!” |
[02:58.600] | 这些是我们应当施以轰炸的人们吗 |
[03:05.300] | 我们是那么肯定他们意在伤害我们吗 |
[03:12.500] | 这是我们的乐事、惩罚还是罪行 |
[03:19.000] | 这是我们确实想登上的山吗 |
[03:25.900] | 道路坚硬,坚硬而漫长 |
[03:32.750] | |
[03:35.400] | |
[03:39.900] | 哦,乔治!哦——乔治! |
[03:45.600] | 那德州的教育定在你幼时就已将你摧残 |
[03:53.600] | 他做了一个小手势,看起来患有关节炎 |
[03:57.300] | 手指合拢,就像一个孩子在挥手告别 |
[04:01.600] | 那位司机把我的旧哈弗那吉他和背包放进车尾箱 |
[04:05.100] | 我们就出发了 |
[04:07.650] | 你是法国人吗,先生?” |
[04:09.300] | “不,英国人” |
[04:10.400] | “啊!英国人” |
[04:13.000] | 你会说英语吗,先生?” |
[04:14.950] | 不,我很抱歉” |
[04:17.200] | 对话就这么进行下去 |
[04:18.300] | 在这陌生人之间的聊天里,他的法语听起来很陌生,不过是正确的 |
[04:23.000] | 我的则缓慢犹疑,而切于使对方高兴 |
[04:25.300] | 一次免费乘车,说到底,也就是一次免费乘车 |
[04:28.750] | 年长的蓄着髭的男人突兀地离开了我们 |
[04:30.800] | 在那之后又过了几英里,的士在被仅仅一个电灯泡照亮的交叉路口慢了下来 |
[04:35.150] | 摆了一个 U 形回头,停在了腾起的云尘中 |
[04:39.000] | 我打开车门,下了车 |
[04:41.100] | 但资助我的人没有跟着动起来 |
[04:47.400] | 司机把我的吉他和背包扔在我脚边 |
[04:49.800] | 并挥手否认我在车尾的致谢 |
[04:52.300] | 带着一副合金拐杖重新出现 |
[04:55.300] | 那副拐杖被他斜靠在梅赛德斯的尾翼上 |
[04:59.050] | 他把身子探进车,扶出了我的同伴 |
[05:02.000] | 他只有一条腿,第二只裤腿整齐地固定在空荡荡的臀下 |
[05:06.900] | 先生——如果你愿意,我们会很荣幸—— |
[05:09.700] | 你可以与我和我的妻子一起在我家中进餐” |
[05:15.700] | 在我十七岁时,我的母亲——感谢她的心灵——满足了我夏日的愿望 |
[05:25.000] | 她把车钥匙递给我 |
[05:29.400] | 我们就着右旋苯丙胺和酒精的劲驶往巴黎 |
[05:35.350] | 在昂蒂布被条子扣留 |
[05:38.600] | 又在那不勒斯被意大利佬罚了一大笔钱 |
[05:43.000] | 但任何人对我们都很好,毕竟我们是英国人 |
[05:49.100] | 我们的父辈助他们赢得战争 |
[05:52.470] | 在我们都知道我们在为什么而战的时候 |
[05:56.800] | 而现在,一名英国人在海外只是美国的奴才 |
[06:02.750] | 这走狗是一条忠犬,紧逼在恶人最后的避难所旁 |
[06:10.500] | 我的妻子”,感谢上帝!只有一条腿,但没有毛病 |
[06:16.690] | 的士驶走了,把我们留在摇晃着的灯泡发出的微光中 |
[06:20.650] | 视野里没有一幢建筑 |
[06:22.200] | 真是见鬼 |
[06:23.900] | 谢谢先生” |
[06:25.250] | “好。来吧!” |
[06:25.950] | 他的面庞闪着喜悦的光,他先迈开步,走在我前面 |
[06:30.310] | 在拐杖间费力地摆动着腿 |
[06:33.700] | 沿着满是灰尘的叉道走入黑暗 |
[06:37.900] | 半小时后,我们已经走了大概半英里 |
[06:40.700] | 正在我对一座建筑心生可怜时 |
[06:44.500] | 他喊着阿拉伯语告知了我们的到来 |
[06:47.550] | 在一阵忙乱的杂音后,一盏灯亮了起来 |
[06:50.700] | 门下豁口中改变着方向的灯光 |
[06:53.850] | 指示着里面的某个人正在接近 |
[07:01.300] | 门吱呀打开。提着一盏硕大的油灯 |
[07:05.200] | 一个有胡子的女人驼着背站在那儿向我们微笑 |
[07:12.150] | 她站在一旁让我们进去,而就在她转过身子时 |
[07:14.850] | 我看到了她驼着背的原因 |
[07:16.120] | 她的背上有一个惊人的背弓 |
[07:19.550] | 我点头微笑回应她的问候,努力控制着自己 |
[07:26.150] | 这位一条腿的男人和他怪异的妻子的温柔 |
[07:29.395] | 美利坚,美利坚,当我等呼唤时,请倾听吧 |
[07:29.900] | 对我来说几乎是太多了 |
[07:31.900] | 温柔对我们来说是否太多了 |
[07:35.250] | 温柔应该和同情一起被打磨吗 |
[07:42.100] | 我们怜悯别人的孩子 |
[07:46.030] | 每当精确制导炸弹 |
[07:52.725] | 别人的孩子死去,防卫的资金上升 |
[08:05.875] | 你有嘻哈、波普、喧嚣和忙碌 |
[08:09.150] | 你有阿提库斯·芬奇 |
[08:11.250] | 你有珍·罗素 |
[08:12.900] | 你有言论自由 |
[08:14.900] | 你有绵延的海滩、旷野和大型购物广场 |
[08:19.850] | 不要让强力,让基督教的权利,毁了这一切 |
[08:24.950] | 为了你和剩下的世界 |
[08:28.100] | 他们交谈得很激动 |
[08:29.850] | 她取走他的拐杖,做例行护理 |
[08:32.800] | 他斥回这动作,打着手势说 |
[08:35.150] | 我们有一位客人 |
[08:36.700] | 她为自己的失礼感到羞愧 |
[08:38.650] | 接了我的东西,把它们轻轻放在角落 |
[08:42.450] | “来点茶吗?” |
[08:44.500] | 我们坐在唯一的房间的一角的劣质坐垫上 |
[08:47.500] | 地板是压紧的土,靠着一面墙有一个升起的平台 |
[08:51.700] | 长约六英尺四,覆有简单的床垫——是床 |
[08:57.000] | 驼背的女人在炉火上上小小的铜杯前忙活 |
[09:01.100] | 然后端给我们热乎的甜茶 |
[09:03.865] | 接着又是这样准备晚餐 |
[09:05.400] | 朴素的,未发酵的面包,+ 薄 |
[09:08.050] | 在炉上架起的铁架上烤成 |
[09:10.430] | 然后是拌着、蘸着雌海胆柔软的壳内 |
[09:19.600] | 她不会不同意:我是他们的客人 |
[09:19.725] | 我的女主人没有吃——我吃了她的晚餐 |
[09:22.900] | 而后她退到一张帘子后 |
[09:25.675] | 留下男人们坐着喝少量的 Arak |
[09:29.500] | 酒是从一个标签已褪色的小瓶子里小心地倒出来 |
[09:32.900] | 不久她又出现了,容貌焕发 |
[09:35.695] | 用胳膊抱着他们的荣耀和快乐——他们的孩子 |
[09:41.880] | 我还从未见过这样的斜视 |
[09:44.965] | 如此的严重,以至于当一只眼睛看向外面时,另一只就消失在鼻子后 |
[09:49.880] | 托尼,你这杰出的战争领袖 |
[09:56.200] | 不论谁来制定规则,恐怖仍旧是恐怖 |
[10:03.000] | 历史并非由败者或受谴者写就 |
[10:10.435] | 现在我们是成吉思汗、卢克雷齐亚·波吉亚、大卫·伯克维兹 |
[10:16.400] | 他们在1961年把这孩子带到他们家 |
[10:23.300] | 我想知道他们身上发生了些什么 |
[10:26.550] | 在那黎巴嫩的混乱中 |
[10:31.020] | 如果我现在能够找到他们,我还能补救吗?快 |
[10:37.800] | 这故事是如何结束? |
[10:45.000] | 于是该上床了,是我,而不是他们 |
[10:51.000] | 当然,他们睡在一张帘子后的地板上 |
[10:55.000] | 在我躺在他们的泥土床上终夜不眠时 |
[10:58.850] | 然后黎明降临,我身旁响起他们安静的杂声 |
[11:02.350] | 我转向北面,我的吉他在我的肩上 |
[11:02.600] | 小心翼翼,免得惊扰客人 |
[11:05.200] | 我尽力佯装着打呵欠 |
[11:05.800] | 第一股强劲的热风 |
[11:07.400] | 然后接过递来的,加热又清洗过的,盛着水的碗 |
[11:08.100] | 迅速吹干了我年轻面颊上咸涩的泪水 |
[11:10.750] | 接着小口喝着我小杯子里的咖啡 |
[11:13.330] | 然后伴着许多的“感谢”、鞠躬和握手 |
[11:17.050] | 我们把女人留下,让她做家务 |
[11:19.600] | 我们男人们便走回那个交叉路口 |
[11:23.300] | 我们行程令人痛苦的缓慢被明媚的阳光照亮 |
[11:32.197] | 共享的士准时地再次出现 |
[11:35.000] | 我的主人给我一根拐杖,倚在另一根上 |
[11:37.550] | 握了我的手并且微笑 |
[11:40.000] | 谢谢,先生”,我说道 |
[11:42.200] | 没什么” |
[11:43.850] | 还要谢谢你的妻子,她很好” |
[11:49.600] | 说着我放开了他的另一根拐杖 |
[11:50.850] | 他让自己再次窝进后座 |
[11:54.500] | 旅途愉快,先生”,他说道 |
[11:56.945] | 并在的士向南驶向城市时半鞠躬 |