We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray
And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale
She said, ‘There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.’
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well been closed
She said, ‘I’m home on shore leave,’
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree
saying, ‘You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.’
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died
If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed
Blijeđe od blijeđe sjenke
Skakutali smo lagani fandango
pravili zvijezde na podu
Uhvatila me neka mučnina
ali masa je još tražila
Prostorija je sve jače brujala
dok se tavanica gubila
Kada smo naručili još jednu rundu
konobar je donio tacnu
I tako se desilo da kasnije
dok je pipničar pričao svoju priču
njeno lice, na prvi mah tek duhovno,
bilo je blijeđe od blijeđe sjenke
Rekla je, ‘Nema veze
istina je jasna.’
nisam znao na koju kartu da zaigram
nisam je ostavljao na miru
jedna od šesnaest vestalskih devica
na obalu je odlazila
iako su mi oči bile otvorene
kao da su zatvorene
Rekla je, ‘Stigla sam kući, na obalu,’
a u stvari bili smo na moru
zato sam je suočio sa stvarnošću
i naterao je da se složi
govoreći, ‘Ti mora da si ona sirena
koja je natakarila Neptuna.’
Ali ona mi se tako tužno osmjehnula
moja jarost u tren je zamrla
Ako je muzika hrana za ljubav
onda je smijeh kraljica
i, isto tako, ako je nazad napred
onda je prljavština ustvari čista
Usta su mi se osušila
svaka misao mi je izmakla*
Tako da smo odmah brzo zaronili
ka dnu okeana se ustremili
