La poésie est une exilée (Robert Hamel)

La poésie est une exilée

La poésie est une exilée
la poésie est une exilée
elle a tout laissé derrière elle
pour quelques illusions vite perdues

la poésie est devenue veuve
avant même la quarantaine
elle était enceinte de deux mois

la poésie est Africaine
elle a la peau noire
l’âme pure
et le cœur noble
elle chante en cuisinant
et lorsqu’elle manie le couteau
il ne me viendrait pas à l’esprit
de lui tourner le dos

à son arrivée au Québec
la poésie a vite compris
qu’elle s’était fait flouer
qu’il n’y en aurait pas de facile
que sa formation et son expérience de travail
représentaient bien peu pour le patronat québécois
elle est repartie à zéro
a tout recommencé
la quarantaine passée
elle a vite appris qu’on ne vit pas
avec un chèque d’aide sociale
la poésie a vite échafaudé un plan B

la poésie est mère monoporentale
elle étudie à temps plein
et élève seule quatre enfants
elle se lève au beau milieu de la nuit
pour préparer ses examens
la poésie fait des miracles
avec ses prêts et bourses
et ses allocations familiales
quand ses enfants lui demandent des ipads
des iphones et d’autres gadgets
la poésie leur répond
qu’elle leur achètera un Walmart

la poésie cherche un cinq et demi
pour ne plus que ses quatre enfants
aient à partager la même chambre
mais quand les proprios entendent sa voix
ils lui disent que c’est déjà loué
ou lui demandent de rappeler plus tard
et ne répondent plus

la poésie s’intègre à sa terre d’accueil
mais regrette encore sa terre natale
où la vie était plus lente
où elle avait le temps de rire
de chanter
de prier et de danser

la poésie n’a de congé que lorsqu’elle dort
et elle ne dort pas assez
mais ce soir la poésie dort dans mes bras
elle est calme et rêve déjà
j’ai écrit des poèmes sur ses lèvres
j’ai écrit des poèmes sur sa peau
j’espère en écrire un dans son cœur
et je suis un poète heureux

I’m Your Man / A Thousand Kisses Deep (Leonard Cohen)

I’m Your Man
If you want a lover
I’ll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I’ll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I’m your man

If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I’ll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I’m your man

Ah, the moon’s too bright
The chain’s too tight
The beast won’t go to sleep
I’ve been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I’d crawl to you baby
And I’d fall at your feet
And I’d howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I’d claw at your heart
And I’d tear at your sheet
I’d say please, please
I’m your man

And if you’ve got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I’ll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I’m your man

If you want a lover
I’ll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I’ll wear a mask for you

A Thousand Kisses Deep
The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat.
You win a while, and then it’s done –
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it’s real,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

I’m turning tricks, I’m getting fixed,
I’m back on Boogie Street.
You lose your grip, and then you slip
Into the Masterpiece.
And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

Confined to sex, we pressed against
The limits of the sea:
I saw there were no oceans left
For scavengers like me.
I made it to the forward deck.
I blessed our remnant fleet –
And then consented to be wrecked,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

I’m turning tricks, I’m getting fixed,
I’m back on Boogie Street.
I guess they won’t exchange the gifts
That you were meant to keep.
And quiet is the thought of you,
The file on you complete,
Except what we forgot to do,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

And sometimes when the night is slow,
The wretched and the meek,
We gather up our hearts and go,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.

The ponies run, the girls are young,
The odds are there to beat . . .

— Leonard Cohen

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Hallelujah
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a very lonely Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

— Leonard Cohen

Higgs Boson Blues (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds)

Higgs Boson Blues
Can’t remember anything at all
Flame trees line the streets
Can’t remember anything at all
I’m driving my car down to Geneva

I’ve been sitting in my basement patio
It was hot
Up above, the girls walk past, their roses all in bloom
Hey, have you ever heard about the Higgs Boson blues?
I’m goin’ down to Geneva baby, gonna teach it to you

Who cares, who cares what the future brings?
Black road long and I drove and drove
I came upon a crossroad
And the night was hot and black
I see Robert Johnson
With a ten dollar guitar strapped to his back
Lookin’ for a tune

Here come Lucifer
With his canon law
And a hundred black babies runnin’ from his genocidal jaw
He’s got the real killer groove
Robert Johnson and the devil man
Don’t know who’s gonna rip off who

I’m driving my car, flame trees on fire
Everybody singin’ the Higgs Boson blues,
I’m tired, I’m tired, I’m lookin’ for a spot to drop
All the clocks have stopped in Memphis
In the Lorraine Motel, it’s hot, it’s hot
That’s why they call it the Hot Spot
I take a room with a view
I see a man preaching in a language that’s completely new
Making the hot cocks in the flophouse bleed
While the cleaning ladies sob into their mops
The bellhop hops and bops
A shot rings out it’s a a spiritual groove
Everybody bleeding from the Higgs Boson Blues

And if I die tonight, bury me
In my favorite yellow patent leather shoes
A mummified cat and a cone-like hat
That the caliphate forced on the Jews
Can you feel my heartbeat?
Can you feel my heartbeat?

Hannah Montana, she does the African Savannah
While the simulated rainy season begins
She curses the queue at the Zulus
And moves on to Amazonia
And cries with the dolphins
The mama ate the pygmy
The pygmy ate the monkey
The monkey has a gift that he is sending back to you
Here come the missionary
With the smallpox and flu
Saving them savages
With his Higgs Boson Blues

I’m driving my car down to Geneva
I’m driving my car down to Geneva

Oh let the damn day break
Rainy days always make me sad
Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake
And you’re the best girl I’ve ever had
I’m driving my car down to Geneva
Can you feel my heartbeat?
Can you feel my heartbeat?
I’m driving my car down to Geneva
Can’t remember anything at all
Sitting here in my basement patio
I can’t remember anything at all
I’m driving my car down to Geneva

— Nick Cave