Bits and clips

Shump

The impact is soft, dull. The shock is sharp, yet lingering.

The sun in the cafe was unbearably bright. It glinted off the polished bar like a fire. The scorching summer day was dying, drowning the town in the last of its heat. Parched, they drank glass of champagne after glass, the only cold drink in the place. They couldn’t get drunk; they were losing their minds in each other.

Thwack thwack

Bits of steel and brick sprayed out in a hot shower.

They were on a beach, secluded by a miracle. The golden months of autumn have covered the continent, but the water on the Southern shore was still warm and welcoming. The air was perfectly still, and the sea just barely kissed the sand. They have been talking for hours, sometimes laughing, and sometimes holding back the tears. He wasn’t really a freelance writer with a travel budget that was somehow unlimited. She wasn’t really a bookstore owner who just happened to know how to bring down a man twice her size in less than a second.

Thwack shriek thwack shump

Can’t scream; can’t hear. Colors burn up. Shadows plunge.

They were in the back of the cab. It was the first frost, and the slightest silver sheen covered the naked trees. He caught himself smiling, tried to control his face, and found that he absolutely could not. She looked at him, and he knew that she had found herself in the exact same spot. He cracked open the window, letting the chill air into the car, just as they pulled through the secure gate into the embassy compound.

Shriek shump shump thwack crash shump thwack

It’s hard to breathe through the pulverized metal and concrete. He finds her hand. She finds his eyes. Her lips move, but he can’t hear any words. The only sound the blood pounding in his head.

The sun in this cafe is unbearably bright. The glint in his eyes is like a fire. The winter day is dying, and he is drowning in its heat. He looks at her, can’t ever move his eyes, but a shadow falls across her, absorbs her, absorbs everything.

The sparrow

Aside

My own lyrics for  the wonderful Chan Chan. The original lyrics (both in Spanish and in English) can be found here. I have to admit that every time I write one of these, I feel quite blasphemous. I only do this for songs I love dearly.

Most of my effort went into trying to replicate the lilting rhythm of the original song. The words should align with the music as before. I also tried to follow arc of the original song, from a wistful remembrance to a sorrowful one.

Along

Along Orleans, I go to Bayou,
Along Dauphine, I go to Marigny.

The vivid dreams I walked awake,
In cobble stones they linger still.
A gentle kiss of night’s perfume
And I am lulled asleep again.

A silver moonray and a sparrow,
Caught in errant summer rain,
Your dance of quickened florid silks,
It drove the little sparrow mad.

Find a lonely, darkened bar,
My whiskey prayer, it’s never far.
My hastened heart, I’ll stay a while.
Oh morning’s breath, don’t wake me yet.

Along Orleans, I go to Bayou,
Along Dauphine, I go to Marigny.