Rakas Maria [English translation]

Dear Maria

Here it is not green

Dear Maria

Here it is washed-out

But nowhere do they

Play funeral marches

Like they do here

And Maria, here they understand

My incomplete sentences

Here they stumble

Into the wrong bars

And they drink to sadness without sadness

Here they tire in the mornings

Flee through windows without clothes

Drive to the border towns with a taxi

Vow easily

Forget easier

For love is what it is

Dear Maria

I could stay here

Dear Maria

I have seen the sandstorm

But nowhere do they advise

Those lost in the city

Like they advise them here

And when the afternoon

Has nearly gone

Downstairs there plays

A violin out of tune

Here they read

Yesterday's paper

And they drink to joy, like they do to sadness

Here they tire in the mornings

Flee through windows without clothes

Drive to the border towns with a taxi

Vow easily

Forget easier

For love is what it is

Here they mock the greats

here they pound their fist on the table

Flee through windows rich in the moment

Catch their breath in the night

Don't collect a thing

For collecting is what it is

And for love is what it is

For love is what it is