And when I tell you,
That the most noble knight
Becomes a nude lunatic
Who spits on his reason
Orlando…
Cause he cannot accept
That his love loves another
Furioso…
And his friend after all
Finds his wits in a glass
On the moon, yes the moon!
That a renaissance-statesman
Crusades in his fantasy
Using the maps of all countries
As a chessboard for thousands
Of characters, animals, plants…

Would you believe me?

And yet it´s true
It´s more than true
It´s bigger than life
A fit knife
A good story is a fit knife
A fit knife

And when I tell you
About a super-hero
With a diamond-hard skin,
Orlando Furioso…
About his horse without weight
Who flies like an arrow,
Result of the wild night
Of a flame and a wind
About swords, wearing names,
Always changing their owners,
About punch-drunk love
Biting harder than tigers…

Would you believe me?

And yet it´s true
It´s more than true
It´s bigger than life
A fit knife
A good story is a fit knife
A fit knife

First there was dust,
White sparkling dust.
Then fragile sounds
Like frozen bells.
Then like an arrow
Kind of silver fish
Broke through this glow,
Flew straight ahead:
Towards me!
Towards me,
Who stood congealed
Upon the ice –
Yet sang with glee
The wonder looked at me:

Why do you attack my heart?
Why do you affect my brain?
Did I tell you to enter my court?
Did I tell you to enter my court!?
To whip up the blood in my veins
To whip up the blood in my veins?

Legs, hands and moves –
They were a boy´s.
But no boy ever,
Had a mouth like that!
Nor had he breasts nor eyes like that
Which looked as if they had been fished
From the bottom of the sea,
From the bottom of the sea.

Whom had I loved
What had I loved
Till now?

Why do you attack my heart?
Why do you affect my brain?
Did I tell you to enter my court?
Did I tell you to enter my court!?
To whip up the blood in my veins
To whip up the blood in my veins?

Called her a melon,
A pineapple,
An olive tree.
An emerald –
And a fox in the snow.
Called her a melon,
A pineapple,
An olive tree.
An emerald –
And a fox in the snow
A fox in the snow.

Why do you attack my heart?
Why do you affect my brain?
Did I tell you to enter my court?
Did I tell you to enter my court!?
To whip up the blood in my veins
To whip up the blood in my veins?

The night was dark,
it was pitch dark.
But it was such a night,
that they´ve been waiting for,
yes, it was such a night,
that they had planned to fly.
The day had come.
Jour de ma vie:
It was their sign.

Jour de ma vie!
From that day on
we blank the past.
Our folie won.
Adieu ennui!
Sasha, let´s run!

She might be late,
prevented thus
Might what? Might what?
Have missed her way!
Midnight has come.
The place is right.
Blackfriars´ inn.
The horses wait.

Jour de ma vie!
from that day on
we blank the past.
Our folie won.
Adieu ennui.
Sasha, come on!

It´s silent still.
Silence is death.
Pitch dark is death.
I should have known.
Known what? Known what?
Love is a fraud.
And words won´t help.
And words won´t help.

Jour de ma vie!
from that day on
we blank the past.
Our folie won.
Adieu ennui.
Sasha, you´re gone!

Wake up, dear
Morning light
Hear, dogs bark
Trumpets fanfare
Drums beat
Get up!

One day –
Two days –
Three –
Four –
Five –
Six –
Seven –

Where have you been?
Abed?
In heaven?

Sleep may be death
Yet death is not the end
Dreams all but innocent
Wake up, new life!
Hide well, old pain!

Was this sleep?
May I ask –
If this is sleep
How is it made?
You think
We need…

Small dose –
Of death –
A day –
To –
Live –
Our –
Lives?

We have to die?
Sometimes?
To live on?

Sleep may be death
Yet death is not the end
Dreams all but innocent
Wake up, new life!
Hide well, old pain!

You know, stranger things
Sometimes happen to us
In the center of silence
In the middle of peace:
Uninvited she came
A six-feet tall lady!
Look-alike of a rabbit
Staring eyes, trembling ears
Hasty moves of a rabbit
She came scarily near
Provoked something…
He feared…

L´amour est un oiseau rebel
A deux visages: blanc et noir
Pour cet instant il semble bel
Brutal et cruel un peu plus tard
Je vous en prie: ce jeu sans moi!

As he bowed to his shoes
Wings came near, tender wings
They reminded him faintly
Of love, lost in the ice
Hot feelings, deep scars
He was moved, yes, but why?
From the heat of a duchess,
Who reminded a rabbit?
Could it really be love
Bird of paradise, that
Provoked something
He feared….

L´amour est un oiseau rebel
A deux visages: blanc et noir
Pour cet instant il semble bel
Brutal et cruel un peu plus tard
Je vous en prie: ce jeu sans moi!

He was really inclined
To let the bird land
What a shock in the end
As it clearly turned out:
The bird was a vulture!
The foul vulture of lust
Not gilded by love
Hence he ran to his King:
The Crown sent him to Stambul
And he happily flew
Provoked by something
He feared…

L´amour est un oiseau rebel
A deux visages: blanc et noir
Pour cet instant il semble bel
Brutal et cruel un peu plus tard
Je vous en prie: ce jeu sans moi!

In houses like eggshells
So white and so naked
He had to sign contracts
He used to shake hands
Behaved like a gentleman
Played the ambassador
In houses like eggshells
In oriental chambers

Exchanged banalities
Forecasted the weather
Ashamed of his job
Stuffy and useless
In houses like eggshells

You should be free
When you travel
Master of your
Cruising level:
Marry a stranger
Commit a crime!
Save a poor devil
Be back in time!

So he turns the tables
In his house like an eggshell
With a feast for the senses
Beyond any description
Gold plates, candelabras
Fountains of sweet wine
Birds in gold-cages
And the host himself:

Such princely manners
So interestingly sad
A lady ´s the reason
That´s what they say
He, again, cannot stay

You should be free
When you travel
Master of your
Cruising level:
Marry a stranger
Commit a crime!
Save a poor devil
Be back in time!

So again seven days he sleeps
— Far away –
Again every cure has been tried
— In vain
Something different has to be found
— Something new!
An extraordinary tool to survive
— Watch out!
In his soul two forces debate:
— One says –
Be abstinent, modest and pure
— The other?
Be sensual, generous, wild
— What now?
Midst of all that noise he wakes up
— Ssshhhhhh!
As a woman he leaves the bed!
— Say again!
Yes, a woman, naked stands up
— No!
It´ s the truth!

Change!
His body revolts
His mind claims for
Change!
How long can you sleep
And how often escape till you
Change?!

 He unites the power and the grace
— Wow!
He sure is a woman, no doubt
— She!
But in every other respect
— What?
Exactly Orlando she stays
— How?
It would change her future, for sure
— No doubt!
Her identitiy though is the same
— Really?
Some doubt her change of sex
— Sure!
Some say, never she´d been a man!
— Her reponse?
She enjoys!

Change!
Her body revolted
Her mind claimed for
Change!
How long can you sleep
And how often escape till you
Change?!

Imagine she had a friend
An old nomad friend
Who came as she whistled
Who came with two donkeys
Who said:

Let´s head for the highlands there
Let´s leave, when the heath is grazed!
Let´s wash in the streams,
And believe you are dark,
Believe you are dark,
Believe you are dark,
Cause you´re like us.

Yet in her eyes
Mountains are walls
Flowers on porcelain
Grass – velvet rugs
Trees turn to witches
Sheep to a mountain range:
Everything, believe  me,
Every, every, every, everthing
– is something else!
Is something – else!

Imagine, her friend was alarmed
Her old nomad friend
Who came as she whistled
Who came with two donkeys
He said:

I fear, you are ill my dear
Dazed by nature, you fool!
But this goddess is cruel:
Lamed my hand –
Crushed my foot –
Is brutal and cruel
Trust one like us!

Yet in her eyes
Mountains are walls
And flowers on porcelain
Grass – velvet rugs
Trees turn to witches
Sheep to a mountain range
Everything, believe me,
Every, every, every, everything
– is something else!
Is something –

“Listen girl,
You think, your family´s old?
Have you never been told:
We have always been here
Being constantly clear
About the difference between
Life and a fictional scene?”

Yet in her eyes
Mountains are walls
Flowers on porcelain
Grass – velvet rugs
Trees turn to witches
Sheep to a mountain range:
Everything, believe  me,
Every, every, every, every
thing – is something else!
Is something….
Everything, believe  me,
Every, every, every, everything
– is something else!
Is something – else.

Feel the silk on my skin?
Lets me shiver somehow
Makes him nervous, just look!
Handsome smile
Blue-dressed captain…
Could I leap overboard?
Would I swim in this dress?
Should I ask him for help?
What a mess! What a mess!
Blue-dressed captain –
Would I?
Blue-dressed captain –
Not really!

Dimmi, capitano
Non posso lottare più?
Non devo gridare più?
Commandare più?
Condannare più?
Dimmi, capitano
E giusto?
L´ho scelto?

Asks me, if I want more
Of this excellent meat
Is this awkward or sweet?
Dazzling game,
Blue-dressed captain!
How do I have to play?
Second-rate more or less…
Listen to your bold tales?
What a mess! What a mess!
Blue-dressed captain –
Would I?
Blue-dressed captain –
Not really!

Dimmi, capitano
Non posso lottare più?
Non devo gridare più?
Commandare più?
Condannare più?
Dimmi, capitano
E giusto?
L´ho scelto?

Which is the greater extasy? The man´s or the woman´s?
And are they not perhaps the same?
No, this is the most delicious: to refuse, and see him frown.
For nothing is more heavenly than to resist and to yield.
To yield and to resist.
I´m, not sure that I won´t throw myself overboard  –
For the mere pleasure of being rescued by a blue-jacket after all.
Heavens! What fools they make of us – what fools we are!
To deny a woman teaching lest she may laugh at you.
To be slave of a petticoat, and yet to go about as if you were the Lords of creation.
“Praise god that I´m a woman” I cried – Huh, I was about to run into the extreme folly
Than which none is more distressing in woman or man either –
Of being proud of my sex.

Dimmi, capitano
Non posso lottare più?
Non devo gridare più?
Commandare più?
Condannare più?
Dimmi, capitano
E giusto?
L´ho scelto?

How she loves books!
Books and solitude
Poems and solitude
Greyhounds, rosebush,
– solitude
Heroes, Writers,
Solitude!

But there is Mr. Greene
The judge of books
Of heroes, poems,
Writers anyway
Opinion Leader
King of public talk

“This book – ridiculous
This poem – plain
The rosebush – uninspired
The greyhound – lame
Poets and heroes?
Either boring or insane!”

Can I trust you, Mr. Greene?
Dare you stand the solitude?
Do you know, where I have been?
Could you sense, what I have seen?

How sharp he thinks!
Thoughts and attitude
Wits and attitude
Knowledge, networks
– attitude
Supporters, friends
Attitude!

Yes, such is Mr. Green!
The judge of books
Of heroes, poems,
Writers anyway
Opinion Leader
King of public talk

“This book – ridiculous
This poem – plain
The rosebush – uninspired
The greyhound – lame
Poets and heroes?
Either boring or insane!”

Can I trust you, Mr. Greene?
Dare you stand the solitude?
Do you know, where I have been?
Could you sense, what I have seen?

He´s been wounded by love
And she hurt others too
Knows the paradise-birds
And the vultures of lust
So he grew…
So she grew…

Can´t you go for a walk
Without meeting an archduke
Who presents you a toad
In the form of an emerald?
Who forgives you and utters
A wedding proposal?
Can´t you live on your own?
Polymorphic and free?
En voyage – in adventures
A mismash is your head
Meeting point of delusions
Battlefield of two sexes
So what?

What the hell?
Why decide?
Life and a lover
So she cried
Why glue together?
Is this nature´s will?
Why firm me up?
I´m evolving still!

Can´t you jump to your feet
Tear down satin and pearls
Snatch your trousers and boots
Ride a horse or a jeep
Don´t you know it´s a fact
That clothes change the way
How we look at the world
And the world looks on us?
Superficial, you say?
Symbols of something hidden!
Clothes just keep up the surface
Of a secret, forbidden…
So what?

What the hell?
Why decide?
Life and a lover
So she cried
Why glue together?
Is this nature´s will?
Why firm me up?
I´m evolving still!

Seven feathers had she picked
And drawn between her fingertips
Faster she went, she ran, she tripped
Her ankle broke, she could not rise
But there she lay content:

I found my mate, it is the moor
I´m natures bride, here will I lie
Shall dream wild dreams of lands
And more: the endless turquoise sea!

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock
The horse was very near…
She sat upright

“Madame, you´re hurt?”
“I´m dead, sir” – she replied.
Few minutes later:
Groom and bride.

“Your name, sir…?”
“Marmaduke, Bonthrop –
And Shelmerdine!!”
“Orlando mine”

“Sure, you´re not male, Orlando?”
“Sure, you´re no woman, Shelmerdine?”
“Who cares? If you are mine!?”

People gathered, bells were rung
A sea of candles s´been arranged
Marmaduke Bonthrop, on your knees!
Shelmerdine, sailor, stay right there!
Orlando, kneel down too!

The priest´s voice triumphed in the end:
Rings were passed from hand to hand
But then confusion rose:
Orlando, thin-dressed, waved good-bye…

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock
His horse was there to leave…
She stood upright

“Madame, you´re hurt?”
“I´m dead, sir” – she replied.
Since a few minutes:
Groom and bride.

“Your name, sir…?”
“Marmaduke, Bonthrop –
And Shelmerdine!!”
“Orlando mine”

“Sure, you will wait, Orlando?”
“Sure, you will come back, Shelmerdine?”
“Don´t care! I´m thine!”

She was married, true
But if one´s husband was always sailing ´round Cap Horn
Was it marriage?
If one liked him, was it marriage?
If one liked other people, was it marriage?
And finally
If one still wished
More than anything in the whole world
To write poetry.
Though being mother of a boy?
Was it marriage?
She had her doubts.

Listen, life!
What are you?
The only shot?
A game for free?
A random venue
For Shel and me?
I do wanna know,
I insist:
Tell me!

She was Orlando, true
Yes, but a million other things as well
A snob am I? The leopards?
My ancestors? Proud of them? Yes!
Greedy, luxurious, vicious
Am I? Don´t care a damn, if I am!
Truthful – I think so
Generous – oh, but that don´t count
Fine linen, silver dishes, wine!
Spoilt – perhaps
I love trees and sheep dogs
And the night

Listen, life!
What are you?
The only shot?
A game for free?
A random venue
For Shel and me?
I do wanna know,
I insist:
Tell me!

Damn it all!
A toy-boat, a toy-boat, a toy-boat!
It´s not laws, or articles, or contracts,
That matter! Wrong focus, Mr. Green!

It´s something useless, sudden, violent
Something that costs a life
Red, blue purple, a spurt, a splash,
Something rash, ridiculous, like my hyacinth,
Husband, I mean – I love you, Shel!
That’s what it is – a toy boat on the Serpentine
A lizard´s call!
Extasy – it´s extasy, that matters.

Listen, life!
What are you?
The only shot?
A game for free?
A random venue for
Shel and me?
I do wanna know,
I insist:
Tell me!