I see the city again in celebration and madness,
suffocating under the sun and the joy.
And I hear in the music the cries, the laughter
that break forth and rebound around me.
And lost among people who jostle me,
stunned, helpless, I remain put—
until suddenly, I turn around, he backs up
and the crowd comes to throw me into his arms.
Carried away by the crowd that drags us away—
sweeps us away—
crushed against one another,
we form one body.
And the effortless flow
pushes us, attached one to the other,
and leaves us both
exhausted, intoxicated, and happy.
Swept away the crowd that charges
and that dances
a mad farandole—
our two hands clasped together
and sometimes raised.
Our entangled bodies both fly away
and fall back —
exhausted, intoxicated, and happy.
And the joy splashed across his smile
pierces me and echoes deep inside of me.
But suddenly I cry out in the midst of the laughter
when the crowd pulls him out of my arms.
Carried away by the crowd that drags us away—
sweeps us away—
we move far away from one another.
I fight and I struggle.
But the sound of my voice
is stifled by the laughter of others
and I cry out in pain, fury, and rage
and I cry.
Swept away the crowd that charges
and that dances
a mad farandole—
I am carried far away.
And I clasp my fists, cursing at the crowd that steals from me
the man that it gave to me me
and that I have never found again.