I’m a Stranger Here Myself

Anne Sofie von Otter

fotografia de Ewa-Marie-Rundquist

 

 

Muitos parabéns a Anne Sofie von Otter, que faz hoje anos. É uma excelentíssima mezzo-soprano que eu admiro imenso.

 

Ouvi-a hoje, numa canção de Kurt Weill, com letra de Ogden Nash, do disco Speak Low com John Eliot Gardiner). 

 

 

 

Tell me is love still a popular suggestion

Or merely an obsolete art?

Forgive me for asking, this simple question

 

 

I'm unfamiliar with his heart

I am a stranger here myself

 

Why is it wrong to murmur, "I adore him"

When it's shamefully obvious I do?

Does love embarrass him, or does it bore him?

I'm only waiting for my clue

I'm a stranger here myself

 

I dream of a day of a gay warm day

With my face between his hands

Have I missed the path? Have I gone astray?

I ask but no one understands

 

Love me or leave me

That seems to be the question

I don't know the tactics to use

But if he should offer

 

A personal suggestion

How could I possibly refuse

When I'm a stranger here myself?

 

Please tell me, tell a stranger

My curiosity goaded

Is there really any danger

That love his now out-moded?

 

I'm interested especially

In knowing why you waste it

True romance is so fleshly

With what have you replaced it?

 

What is your latest foibal?

Is Gin Rummy more exquisite?

Is skiing more enjoyable?

For heaven's sake what is it?

 

I can't believe

That love has lost its glamor

That passion is really passé

If gender is just a term in grammar

How can I ever find my way?

Since I'm a stranger here myself

 

How can he ignore my

Available condition?

Why these Victorian views?

You see here before you

 

A woman with a mission

I must discover the key to his ignition

And then if he should make

A diplomatic proposition

 

How could I possibly refuse?

How could I possibly refuse

When I'm a stranger here myself?