A Paradise of Poems

This is a non-editing/filtering version of a live rehearsal session between me and João Grillo (guitarist).

One day later, we performed at Lovecraft Beer Lounge Aveiro :)

徘徊著的 在路上的
pái huái zhe de zài lù shàng de
Those who are wandering, those who are on the road
你要走嗎 via via
nǐ yào zǒu ma via via
You want to go? (Are you going?) Via, via

易碎的 驕傲著
yì suì de jiāo’àozhe
Fragile ones, Proud ones
那也曾是我的模樣
nà yě céng shì wǒ de múyàng
That was also my appearance, once

沸騰著的 不安著的
fèiténgzhe de bù’ānzhe de
Furious ones, uneasy ones
你要去哪 via via
nǐ yào qù nǎ via via
Where are you going? Via, via

謎一樣的 沉默著的
mí yīyàng de chénmòzhe de
Mysterious ones, silent ones
故事 你真的 在聽嗎
gùshì nǐ zhēn de zài tīng ma
Are you actually listening to the story?

CHORUS 1

我 曾經 跨過 山和大海
wǒ céngjīng kuàguò shān hé dàhǎi
I’ve crossed mountains and seas
也 穿過 人山人海
yě chuānguò rénshānrénhǎi
And gone through crowds of people
我曾經擁有著一切
wǒ céngjīng yǒngyǒuzhe yīqiè
I once had everything
轉眼都飄散如煙
zhuǎnyǎn dōu piāosàn rú yān
But in the blink of an eye, it disappeared like smoke
我曾經 失落 失望 失掉 所有方向
wǒ céngjīng shīluò shīwàng shīdiào suǒyǒu fāngxiàng
I’ve been lost, disappointed, lost my sense of direction
直到看見平凡才是唯一的答案
zhídào kànjiàn píngfán cái shì wéiyī de dá’àn
Until (I) saw that “ordinary” is the only answer

當你仍然 還在幻想
dāng nǐ réngrán hái zài huànxiǎng
When you’re still fantasizing
你的明天 via via
nǐ de míngtiān via via
(about) your tomorrow, via via
它會好嗎 還是更爛
tā huì hǎo ma háishì gèng làn
Will it be better? Or worse?
對我而言是另一天
duì wǒ ér yán shì lìng yītiān
To me, it’s another day

CHORUS 2

我曾經毀了我的一切 只想永遠地離開
wǒ céngjīng huǐle wǒ de yīqiè zhǐ xiǎng yǒngyuǎn dì líkāi
I’ve destroyed all I had, wanting to leave forever
我曾經墮入無邊黑暗 想掙扎無法自拔
wǒ céngjīng duò rù wúbiān hēi’àn xiǎng zhēngzhá wúfǎ zìbá
I’ve fallen into boundless darkness, wanted to fight, unable to extricate myself
我曾經像你像他像那野草野花
wǒ céngjīng xiàng nǐ xiàng tā xiàng nà yěcǎo yěhuā
I’ve been like you, like him, like the wild grass and flowers
絕望著 渴望著 也哭也笑也平凡著
juéwàngzhe kěwàngzhe kūzhe xiàozhe píngfánzhe
Despairing, longing, crying, laughing, ordinary

[Repeat CHORUS 1, 2]

我 曾經 跨過 山和大海
wǒ céngjīng kuàguò shān hé dàhǎi
I’ve crossed mountains and seas
也 穿過 人山人海
yě chuānguò rénshānrénhǎi
And gone through crowds of people
我曾經問遍整個世界 從來沒得到答案

wǒ céngjīng wèn biàn zhěnggè shìjiè cónglái méi dédào dá’àn
I’ve asked the whole world, (but) never found an answer
我不過像你像他像那野草野花
wǒ bùguò xiàng nǐ xiàng tā xiàng nà yěcǎo yěhuā
I’m just like you, like him, like those wild grasses and flowers
冥冥中這是我 唯一要走的路啊
míng míng zhōng zhè shì wǒ wéiyī yào zǒu de lù a
This is the only road I have to walk

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.
Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain,
Its ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:
You become an image of what is remembered forever.
You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played alongside millions of lovers, shared in the same
Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.
Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –
And the songs of every poet past and forever.

BGM by Katrina Stone - Digging Tunnels - Instrumental Version

  You too wanted better things, but love
          forces all of us down.  Sorrow bends us more
          forcefully, but the arc doesn't return to its
          point of origin without a reason.
 
          Upwards or downwards!  In holy Night,
          where mute Nature plans the coming days,
          doesn't there reign in the most twisted Orcus
          something straight and direct?
 
          This I have learned.  Never to my knowledge
          did you, all-preserving gods, like mortal
          masters, lead me providentially
          along a straight path.
 
          The gods say that man should test
          everything, and that strongly nourished
          he be thankful for everything, and understand
          the freedom to set forth wherever he will.

BGM by Aleksey Chistilin - The Story of One Life

Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me-

BGM by Nsee - Frozen Lake - Slowed and Reverbed

often it is the only
thing
between you and
impossibility.
no drink,
no woman's love,
no wealth
can
match it.
nothing can save
you
except
writing.
it keeps the walls
from
failing.
the hordes from
closing in.
it blasts the
darkness.
writing is the
ultimate
psychiatrist,
the kindliest
god of all the
gods.
writing stalks
death.
it knows no
quit.
and writing
laughs
at itself,
at pain.
it is the last
expectation,
the last
explanation.
that's
what it
is.
from blank gun silencer - 1991

BGM by Nsee - Bloom

No people are uninteresting.

Nothing in them is not particular,

And if a man lived in obscurity

To each his world is private,

And in that world one tragic minute.

In any man who dies there dies with him

There are left books and bridges

But what has gone is also not nothing:

Whom we knew as faulty, the earth’s creatures

Brother of a brother? Friend of friends?

We who knew our fathers

They perish. They cannot be brought back.

And every time again and again

Music by Ardie Son - Folklore

I wonder about the trees.
Why do we wish to bear
Forever the noise of these
More than another noise
So close to our dwelling place?
We suffer them by the day
Till we lose all measure of pace,
And fixity in our joys,
And acquire a listening air.
They are that that talks of going
But never gets away;
And that talks no less for knowing,
As it grows wiser and older,
That now it means to stay.
My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway,
From the window or the door.
I shall set forth for somewhere,
I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone.

Music by Break of Reality - Comfortable Silence