Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
London by Night
To a young foreigner…
Did you ever walk by London, at night, alone ?
Just walk, just contemplate the city, it’s magic !
You could wander forever, maybe, nostalgic.
Admire : the streets, the clouds, the jewels of the Crown…
They are all there before your feet, it’s infinite,
In that sense you could not, I believe, in your life,
See all of these, for sure… Be it haven, or strife,
Be it loom or a joy, a grey dusk, dark, or light…
Follow this way : you reach, out of Tate Modern,
By the waters, Southwark, the Globe, then Tower Bridge.
Cross to Saint Kathrine Docks, stay a while on a bench…
Walk backwards, reach Saint Paul, there’s a pub where to quench,
Meet an old mariner there, tell him you are lige,
To the blessed Kings of France !
Pay him, leave this tavern…
London, you can!
London, London by night, London at dusk, at dawn…
You would be forever in my heart with the psalms.
I heard your chants, Christians, with their Anglican charms,
In a church where I wept. Whilst Christmas had just shown…
You, English women and men, know the tales of Lore,
The ballads and the rhymes, and legends from old times.
I do believe in them, in their power, their prime !
I believe in the might from the mist at your shores…
London ! England ! You can make a young boy, a man.
Yes, I was on a thrive and sorrowful and lost,
Then I prayed ! I recall many nights if not most :
When I was in my room, puzzled, bent for mercy…
Thy o Lord delivered your child, for now I see,
Banks of Thames, twenty years later,
By Easter’s shine.
United they stand…
There is something hidden in United Kingdom,
Would you spend some time there, you would guess, I believe,
Of how can these people assume the way the live ?
Half Lords and Peers, half punks, half bourgeois, scholars some…
An oddity appears in their History bookshelves :
They invaded every countries in our whole world,
Except Lesotho, then quickly came back to fold,
Their sails, and drink whisky, sleep tight, all by themselves…
There is more : it is a known fact, I have seen it,
When young folks in London, go for a party out,
They are all half naked, in the cold, with no coat,
They would explain : “We don’t want to pay a locker…”
Whilst, I don’t know how they could avoid the doctor ?
Mystery rule these lands. With magic, and some wit.
