petronia: (work)
[personal profile] petronia
By popular demand, and also (I think) because I'm trying to make an obscure point. Being that my songcalls are always shorthand for character essays.


Draw Me A Sheep (Dessine-moi un mouton)

What solitude
To die
Without the certainty
Of being at least

A particle
Of life
A minuscule point
Useful to someone

What solitude
Not to know
That which the eyes
Cannot see

The adult world
Isolated
An abrupt world--
And now I'm brooding

Draw me a sheep
The sky is empty without imagination
That's it
Draw me a sheep
Become again the child that we once were
Draw me a sheep
The world is sad without imagination
That's it
Draw me a sheep
To tame the absurdity of the world

What solitude
To tell oneself
That the bite
Of time is nothing

A dream is a bubble
Of life
A major benefit
Useful to grief

Discomfiture
Little obstacles
But I want to believe
In the hereafter

And living is hard
Always a choice
But I swear
That the world is mine

It is mine... the world


The original is better, of course. It rhymes, and contains lots of clever puns. >_> Like the "discomfiture/little obstacles" line, which you can also read as "jams/tiny seeds", like when you eat raspberry jam and it gets stuck in your teeth... anyway.

OMAKE - You know what my sister is reading? T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, no joke. (Yes, she likes to read five or six books simultaneously. I don't approve, but she has her way and I have mine. ~_~) There's a poem at the very beginning, between the publishing information and the preface, that I like and am going to reproduce here for the sake of being able to find it after she returns the book to the library.


To S.A.

I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To earn you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When we came.

Death seemed my servant on the road, till we were near
and saw you waiting:
When you smiled, and in sorrowful envy he outran me
and took you apart:
Into his quietness.

Love, the way-weary, groped to your body, our brief wage
ours for the moment
Before earth's soft hand explored your shape, and the blind
worms grew fat upon
Your substance.

Men prayed me that I set our work, the inviolate house,
as a memory of you.
But for fit monument I shattered it, unfinished: and now
The little things creep out to patch themselves hovels
in the marred shadow
Of your gift.


There was just this series of articles on Saudi Arabia, in... the National Post, I think?

Erm...

Date: 2004-03-28 02:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mildlyinsane.livejournal.com
*raises hand tentatively* Excuse me? But which edition did your sister get? *stares at the Anchor Books 1991 Edition* Mine doesn't have the poem...

Date: 2004-03-28 08:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
Oh, dude, I've always loved the "To S.A." poem in the Seven Pillars. Although, unfortunately, watching Lawrence of Arabia gave me the wrong impression of who it was for. ^^;;

*loves you for the song translation*

Date: 2004-03-28 10:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fable.livejournal.com
Most scholars agree that the "S.A." in the poem refers, at least in part, to Dahoum, who was a Syrian that Lawrence met at an archaeological dig in Carcamesh (I have *no idea* how to spell that, and probably butchered it). Dahoum's nickname was "sheik ahmed", and there've been some drafts of the poem found that allude to this more directly. After Lawrence and Feisal drove the Turks from Syria, Lawrence found out that Dahoum had died of a fever about a year before. Isn't that the most tragic thing ever? *weeps*

Date: 2004-03-28 10:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
Yeah, I've actually read the biography of Lawrence of Arabia. Partially because I kept referring over and over again to the day he took damascus in my poetry. *laughs* So I felt obligated.

It is a tragic, tragic story.

Date: 2004-03-28 10:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fable.livejournal.com
You've read the biography? Which one - the official biography or the one by Mack? But, yes. YOU AGREE WITH ME! I knew there was a reason I adored you so much. <333333333

Whenever I read any of the things he's written, it always makes me weep. Because he was so poetic and torn and *tortured* about what had happened, and it's just - his whole life was like a Greek tragedy, wasn't it?

Date: 2004-03-28 10:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
The one by Asher, is that the official or unofficial?

I've also read the stuff he wrote after Arabia. You know, when he was a RAF pilot or whatever? the book that just ENDS suddenly. I love that book. Oh my god the poor thing he was so happy sounding in that book, for the most part.

Date: 2004-03-28 10:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fable.livejournal.com
Oh, if you're still interested in Lawrence, you must read the biography by Mack. It's called "Prince of Our Disorder", and you can find it - aha! - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674704940/qid=1080498691/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-4664338-9520627?v=glance&s=books>here</a>. It's a cross between a normal historical biography and a psychological analysis, and the insights he comes up with about Lawrence are wonderful. I think this is the book that Mack won the Pulitzer for - it's pretty renowned, and amazingly well researched and accurate.

Date: 2004-03-28 10:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
I'll do that. *laughs* Next time I visit a book store, etc. Thank you.

On a totally unrelated note..

Date: 2004-03-28 01:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] smurfmatic.livejournal.com
Hey-hey! *waves-gesticulates*

I bought tickets for Game 3 in Montreal! (I think it'll be around the weekend in two weeks, Saturday April 10th in the evening, most likely. We're in the Molson Ex zone, behind the net, right in the center - not the greatest seating, but eh, it's playoffs hockey!! They are 45$ apiece.)

And more exclamative-Ced later. [/spam]

Re: On a totally unrelated note..

Date: 2004-03-28 02:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
Excellamente. XD

Date: 2004-04-06 10:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
*stops in her tracks*

Wait a sec. "Draw me a sheep"? Like the little prince who asks that in the book? *stunned*

Date: 2004-04-06 01:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petronia.livejournal.com
*rolls* What did you think the song was about? And why it's on the PoT FST exactly?

(Classic snippet of dialogue from one of the fics Chrissie recced:

"So am I the fox or the rose to you?"
"Maybe you're the little prince and I'm the author.")

Date: 2004-04-08 07:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] two-if-by-sea.livejournal.com
I'm slow. *smile* Give me time. And I just read the book.

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