Late Nights at the Factory Bar

This one is from way-way back, but it has come round in a very wide gyre. I guess proletarian love never gets old.

I'd much rather talk about the Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, but I still lack the words to connect the dots. There definitely are points in time and thresholds in life, when the falcon and the falconer loose their shared language and no meta-narrative, no frame, no proverb holds true any more. Where do you turn then, is my question.

---

You worked late nights at the factory bar
You had a girlfriend named Margareth and a devilish laugh

When the lights went out, you led me upstairs
I took your clothes off in a company chair

The love we made was fervently rough
Your hands were coarse but your body was soft

    And now that I know I am dreaming
    I will ask you to dance anyhow
    It is not about staying or leaving
    Just this song and the things that are now

You got in your jeans, I wanted to know
If you had a choice, where would you go

There was dust in the air of the foreman's room
You want to be someone and want to be cool

Go to a college and hear the boys brag
Of the late nights out and the girls that they've had

     This is all but the words have a meaning
     And I know you will read very wrong
     It is not about staying or leaving
     It has been about us all along

From the hills of Buda

Budapest has a strange way of getting under your skin. The very first time I visited the city, it was hot, humid and the air was thick with exhaust. The streets were full of litter and there was no room for plants or trees. I cannot say I did not like it, but the impression was not overwhelming.

Then I became to know her better, her shady groves, underpasses, the quiet of Buda, the rustle of Pest, the little shops where a girl wearing way too much makeup will cook you a lángos you would be wiser not to eat. Yet you are tipsy enough to brave it.

And I cannot remember exactly when I fell in love, just that one day I was missing her velvety nights, be they pierced by shouts on the street and the constant smell of urine. Nobody is perfect.

---

From the hills of Buda
To the sewers of Pest
    When one day you see me again
    Will I walk as I did then
Your streets my Budapest

Trams dash on the Körút(1)
I trace the footsteps of men
    the Duna(2) has torn into you
    the flow that has broken us two
I will follow her every bend

Will I float back to your island
Margit(3) - your breathing heart
    Where once I bided my time
    Will ever again I arrive
At Keleti pályaudvar(4)

---

1. Körút [IPA: køruːt] literally round street. Here referring to a main street circling from the Buda side to the Pest side.
2. Hungarian name for Danube
3. Refers to the Margaret island, a large park in the middle of Danube. The Hungarian name is Margit-sziget.
4. [keleti paːjaudvar] Eastern train station. One of the main stations in Budapest.

Heartbreak Nation

Take any of the great American minstrels like Simon and Garfunkel

Or Johnny Cash (lyrics by Rod McKuen)

Both these and other songs carry an immense sense of space, longing and belonging. They have always captivated me with the ease that they defy distances to find a human touch, a moment, an emotion. Thus far I was not sure what so moved me, but I think I have come to a better understanding.

One of the core pillars of American culture is tracing your roots, but not being bound by them. An enormous amount of people move because of their work, their family or other reasons. The small-talk society is partly a result of the constant need to create bonds quickly, settle in and assimilate to a certain extent.

A society where it is relatively easy to make connections is also a society where connections will be lost more often. At the heart of these songs is simply the matter of understanding - every arrival is a departure elsewhere. 

In Europe, this dimension has not been visible to such an extent. But within the EU, supported by various academic, cultural and youth programmes, I believe that the Old World too is becoming a nation of heartbreak. As is fitting for a continent named after passion, love and abduction.

Here is one such story that happened to my closest friend. The text is dedicated to every Boeing, Airbus and ATR out there, departing from somewhere, arriving somewhere else.

Your bones
Are made of composite alloy
Light and strong
My heavy, her fragile heart
Cannot match the thrust
Of your turbofans


How many times
Have you brought us together
How many times
Have you torn us apart


Now bear me once more
bear me home on your wings
This once and no more

Csönded vagyok / Vaikuseks sul / Silence for you

Lyrics: Bereményi Géza
Voice: Cseh Tamás

When words are all one has, one has to use them wisely.

Csönded vagyok is a very well known song, which is also very difficult to translate.
I have taken many artistic liberties with regards to the content, in order to keep the original metrics where possible. In theory, one should be able to sing the texts to the original tune. The singer however takes pauses that occasionally break words in other languages.
I like this version better, as it seems more honest, but the embedded one has better sound.



Magyar: Csönded vagyok


Most elmondom, mid vagyok, mid nem neked.
Vártál ha magadról szép éneket,
dícsérő éneked én nem leszek,
mi más is lehetnék: csak csönd neked.

E szó jó: csönd vagyok, csönded vagyok.
Ha rám így kedved van maradhatok,
ülhetsz csak tűrve, hogy dal nem dicsér,
se jel, se láng csak csönd, mely égig ér.

S folytatom mid vagyok, mid nem neked,
ha vártál lángot, az nem lehetek,
fölébem hajolj, lásd hamu vagyok,
belőlem csak jövőd jósolhatod.

Most elmondtam mid vagyok, mid nem neked.
Vártál ha magadról szép éneket,
dícsérő éneked én nem leszek,
mi más is lehetnék: csak csönd neked.



Eesti: Vaikuseks sul


Las ütlen, mis olen, mis pole su heaks
Ilusat laulu kui ootama peaks
Kõlavaks lauluks ma olla ei saa
Ei midagi enam, vaikus vaid ma

See sõna on ilus, vaikuse hääl
Kui see on su sooviks, et siia ma jään
Võid oodata vaevas, et tummaks jääb suu
taevani sügav, vaikus ei muud

Las jätkan, et öelda mida su heaks
Kuid leeki ei süti, kui ootama peaks
Kummardu üle ja tuhka vaid näed
Ainus mis endena sinuga jääb

On öeldud, mis olen, mis pole su heaks
Ilusat laulu kui ootama peaks
Kõlavaks lauluks ma olla ei saa
Ei midagi enam, vaikus vaid ma



English: Silence for you

For you I will say what I am, what I am not
Waiting for songs that I haven't got
Singing your praises I cannot be
Nothing beyond your silence in me

And sweet is the word my silence for you
Such be your wish I remain, I will do
You will but suffer, no verses of love
No sign, no flame, but silence high above

And there is more that I am, that I am not
In vain you desire a flame that is hot
Bow to me, look at me, ashes all through
Out of me springs but an omen for you

For you I have said what I am, I am not
Waiting for songs that I haven't got
Singing your praises I cannot be
Nothing beyond your silence in me