31 Comments
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Richard Blaisdell's avatar

Joli en Francais. . Pretty anglais. c'est dommage. Age fades hidden away, but glows inside-out.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

yes, that too

thank you, Richard

🩵💫

I think I'll try to share the comment, it could be a line in a song in its own right

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Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

You’re breaking the chains, aren’t you, Chen?

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

in order to break the chains one needs to feel himself as a body I suppose

I am not sure who I am right now.

Oh well, at least I'm trying.

Thank you, dear Mahdi 🩵

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Weston Parker's avatar

From every single beautiful lady I have known, they have said it mostly a big fat pain in the ass.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Oh yes it can be, true that, and I'm not even beautiful.

A few of my friends are/were exceptionally beautiful -came with a heavy price most often than not

Maybe I also don't know what to do with my gifts. "Зачем все это, оно ж никому не нравится"

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Weston Parker's avatar

Translation I got was “Why all this, nobody likes it”

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

more or less. It's a line from some poem I love. Maybe will try to find it later

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Themes and Deviations's avatar

Watched the video without sound. I highly recommend trying that. It highlights the depth and beauty of the older woman who is the main character.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

it is a great video

✨✨✨

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

...thank you so much for sharing this, dear Portia 💕

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DocTalk, Allan N Schwartz PhD's avatar

I love it.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Thank you so much, Allan

and also for the restack 💫

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

big thank you for the restack, David, it means a lot

✨✨✨

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Jed Moffitt's avatar

I listened to the musical version. That was important :)

Made me giggle. There is this Beatles/Leonard Cohen vibe to the piece. Hard not to laugh and enjoy despite the glimpse that all is not perfectly calm beneath the surface.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Thank you, Jed. Yes, it's a children's song, first and foremost.

They have a very merry song about a preschool that's closed, there's something sad and a bit menacing about places made by humans but devoid of them, even temporarily, yet it captures perfectly the feeling of a kid glimpsing inside, and the melody is, as I said, very merry and fast. I think it's a genius balance. Everybody just starts singing along, as with "The Prettiest Girl" too.

There is this song, "Pills of White Mercury", I used to think it's about something that warrants dancing, until I listened carefully to the words:) But I digress.

Thank you ✨

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Prohor's avatar

Yeah, Beatles would be nice, but Cohen's recitative of his later years, OMG! It would even fit on You Want It Darker, with the sound something like On The Level. Circling back to Chen's french video, in a sense.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

🩵

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Jed Moffitt's avatar

The later stuff... You want it darker and thanks for the dance. What a swan song. I have a recency bias, but still, that is the stuff I am still called to replay.

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Prohor's avatar

This may easily be the scariest poem ever written. One of them, at least. Almost everything written or told by humans has a plot, a story, sometimes it can be really tiny, just a bit of a turn, a change of perspective or something. Our brain anticipates some other side of the story to come. But here the other side is never disclosed, after all the build-up. And this void is scary.

But the song is great for music video ideas - you just need to fill the void with a meaningful video that adds some other side to the lyrics.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

interesting

they dealt with it a bit differently in French version, but I'd need to doublecheck the tenses. I kept mine present, as in the original.

It's late now, and утро вечера мудренее.

But great point, I'll doublecheck. Because it does change perspectives, in a way.

💫💫

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Nope, they saved the present tense as well, in French version

I think it's important, in this song.

It is sang-the first level of meaning- from the point of view of someone really young.

I didn't even go with "kindergarden" , I wanted to, initially, but then decided that the whoever sings is younger than 5. I remember this level of sheer wonderment and "I don't understand", when I was probably 2 or 3.

Prevented me from using some words that would rhyme amazingly, but sounded too "grown up".

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Paul Wittenberger's avatar

I love both versions of the song, Chen.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Thank you, dear Paul -and thank you so much for the restack as well

🩵💫✨

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Thalia Toha's avatar

Chen, You’re so right that I hear this sometimes from some of the most gorgeous people I know! If they only know how beautiful they are. There’s almost a tragedy to this reality to it. But your poem here really resonates: everyone focuses on their flaws. Thanks for this thoughtful yet bright piece! Doing OK otherwise, Chen?

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Thank you, dear Thalia

🤍💫🤍

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Thalia Toha's avatar

Anytime, Chen! Do take care!

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

This poem has a pleasant ironic overlay

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

Thank you, Richard 💫💫

PS coincidentally started reading as it has arrived; enjoying vastly

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

Thanks Chen I'm honored.

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Chen Rafaeli's avatar

🩵

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