Wartime Prayers

Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
Appeals for love or loves release, in private invocations.
But all that is changed now,
Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
People hungry for the voice of God
Hear lunatics and liars

Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
In every language spoken,
For every family scattered and broken.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.

I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I feel.

Times are hard, hard times,
But everybody knows all about hard times.
The thing is, what are you gonna do?
Will you cry?
And try to muscle through?
And try to rearrange your stuff?
But when the wounds are deep enough,
And it's all that we can bear,
We wrap ourselves in prayer.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genious marketing plan.

I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop would do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.

A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer
With hush-a-bies for sleepy eyes,
And kisses on the shoulder.
To drive away despair
She sends a wartime prayer.

 

 


Guitarras: Paul Simon
Electrónica
: Brian Eno
Piano
: Herbie Hancock
Teclados
: Gil Goldstein
Bajo
: Pino Palladino
Batería
: Robin DiMaggio y Steve Gadd
Coros
: Jessy Dixon Singers

 

© 2006 Paul Simon Music BMI
Disco: Surprise

Ver traducción en Español

Comentarios: Una de las canciones más hondas y espirituales de Paul Simon. Escrita en un contexto post-11 de septiembre y en plena guerra de Irak, es una meditación sobre la fe, el dolor, la violencia y la fragilidad humana en tiempos de conflicto.
“Wartime Prayers”
es una oración laica, una canción sobre cómo sobrevivimos a lo insoportable buscando lo sagrado en medio del desastre. No ofrece soluciones, pero abre un espacio para el consuelo, la humildad y el deseo de redención.

En vez de levantar el puño, Simon baja la voz. No pide justicia vengativa, sino paz interior, compasión y un poco de sabiduría, antes de que sea demasiado tarde.