The Asthmatic

(album: Who By Fire (Live Tribute To Leonard Cohen) - 2021)

Because you will not overthrow your life
You cannot breathe

Because of the panic of homelessness
You cannot breathe

Because you have begun to worship time
You cannot breathe

Because you will never have the beautiful one
You cannot breathe

Because you will not sail into the small harbour and enter the village
You cannot breathe

Because your sorrow will not return to its birthplace
You cannot breathe

Because you believe you were not meant to be so far away
You cannot breathe

Because this is the valley of the shadow of death
You cannot breathe

The boat has brought you here [4x]
The butterfly has sealed your escape [4x]
Because you cannot be here [4x]
You cannot breathe

The butterfly smashed into a silver tray and sealed your escape like a stone rolled into a tunnel

You cannot breathe
Because you do not know what is coming

You cannot breathe
Because this world is yours and it is not yours [4x]

You cannot breathe
Because you rest, because you strive, because you do not work

You cannot breathe
Because you let the world come between you and me

You cannot breathe
Because of an idea of the calm breath
You cannot breathe

Here they have orange and lemon trees [4x]
Here there are baths of mineral waters [4x]
Because you want to choose a way [4x]
Because you find the language to welcome me [4x]

The sun is sparkling all over the blue water [4x]
The stony shore is laved by the sea [4x]
Yellow curtains are sucked against the portholes [4x]
The propeller wants everyone to go to sleep [4x]

You separate yourself from an unknown woman in a green sweater [4x]
Because of your love of conquering [4x]
You cannot breathe [4x]
Because you will not address me as an equal [4x]
Because you have commanded the guards to shut down the doors and take away breathing [4x]
Because the world is stamped with order, like a seal in formless wax [4x]
Because you have a God of justice [4x]
Because the justice is immediate and flawless [4x]
You cannot breathe [4x]

Because you cannot uphold your separation
Because your strangerhood is defeated
Because you breathe your breath through the mask of purity
Because you consign to the pale of objectivity
Her green sweater, the flashing islands, your distance from love, and your whole breathless predicament

You cannot breathe