Bob Dylan – Tempest

The pale moon rose in its glory
Out o’er the Western town
She told a sad, sad story
Of the great ship that went down

It was the fourteenth day of April
Over the waves she rode
Sailing into tomorrow
To a golden age foretold

The night was black with starlight
The seas were sharp and clear
Moving through the shadows
The promised hour was near

Lights were holding steady
Gliding over the foam
All the lords and ladies
Heading for their eternal home

The chandeliers were swaying
From the balustrades above
The orchestra was playing
Songs of faded love

The watchman, he lay dreaming
As the ballroom dancers twirled
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the underworld

Leo took his sketchbook
He was often so inclined
He closed his eyes and painted
The scenery in his mind

Cupid struck his bosom
And broke it with a snap
The closest woman to him
He fell into her lap

He heard a loud commotion
Something sounded wrong
His inner spirit was saying
That he couldn’t stand here long

He staggered to the quarterdeck
No time now to sleep
Water on the quarterdeck
Already three foot deep

Smokestack was leaning sideways
Heavy feet began to pound
He walked into the whirlwind
Sky splitting all around

The ship was going under
The universe had opened wide
The roll was called up yonder
The angels turned aside

Lights down in the hallway
Flickering dim and dull
Dead bodies already floating
In the double bottom hull

The engines then exploded
Propellers they failed to start
The boilers overloaded
The ship’s bow split apart

Passengers were flying
Backward, forward, far and fast
They mumbled, fumbled, and tumbled
Each one more weary than the last

The veil was torn asunder
‘Tween the hours of twelve and one
No change, no sudden wonder
Could undo what had been done

The watchman lay there dreaming
At forty five degrees
He dreamed that the Titanic was sinking
Dropping to her knees

Wellington he was sleeping
His bed began to slide
His valiant heart was beating
He pushed the tables aside

Glass of shattered crystal
Lay scattered roundabout
He strapped on both his pistols
How long could he hold out?

His men and his companions
Were nowhere to be seen
In silence there he waited for
Time and space to intervene

The passageway was narrow
There was blackness in the air
He saw every kind of sorrow
Heard voices everywhere

Alarm-bells were ringing
To hold back the swelling tide
Friends and lovers clinging
To each other side by side

Mothers and their daughters
Descending down the stairs
Jumped into the icy waters
Love and pity sent their prayers

The rich man, Mister Astor
Kissed his darling wife
He had no way of knowing
It’d be the last trip of his life

Calvin, Blake and Wilson
Gambled in the dark
Not one of them would ever live to
Tell the tale on the disembark

Brother rose up ‘gainst brother
In every circumstance
They fought and slaughtered each other
In a deadly dance

They lowered down the lifeboats
From the sinking wreck
There were traitors, there were turncoats
Broken backs and broken necks

The bishop left his cabin
To help others in need
Turned his eyes up to the heavens
Said, “The poor are yours to feed”

Davey the brothel-keeper
Came out dismissed his girls
Saw the water getting deeper
Saw the changing of his world

Jim Dandy smiled
He never learned to swim
Saw the little crippled child
And he gave his seat to him

He saw the starlight shining
Streaming from the East
Death was on the rampage
But his heart was now at peace

They battened down the hatches
But the hatches wouldn’t hold
They drowned upon the staircase
Of brass and polished gold

Leo said to Cleo
I think I’m going mad
But he’d lost his mind already
Whatever mind he had

He tried to block the doorway
To save all those from harm
Blood from an open wound
Pouring down his arm

Petals fell from flowers
‘Til all of them were gone
In the long and dreadful hours
The wizard’s curse played on

The host was pouring brandy
He was going down slow
He stayed right to the end and he
Was the last to go

There were many, many others
Nameless here forever more
They never sailed the ocean
Or left their homes before

The watchman, he lay dreaming
The damage had been done
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
And he tried to tell someone

The captain, barely breathing
Kneeling at the wheel
Above him and beneath him
Fifty thousand tons of steel

He looked over at his compass
And he gazed into its face
Needle pointing downward
He knew he’d lost the race

In the dark illumination
He remembered bygone years
He read the Book of Revelation
And he filled his cup with tears

When the Reaper’s task had ended
Sixteen hundred had gone to rest
The good, the bad, the rich, the poor
The loveliest and the best

They waited at the landing
And they tried to understand
But there is no understanding
On the judgment of God’s hand

The news came over the wires
And struck with deadly force
Love had lost its fires
All things had run their course

The watchman he lay dreaming
Of all the things that can be
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the deep blue sea

Prevod pesme

Bura

Bledi se mesec u punom sjaju rodio
Iznad Vestern grada
Ona je ispričala jednu tužnu, tužnu priču
O divnom brodu koji je potonuo

Bio je četrnaesti dan aprila
Na talasima ona je plovila
Jedrivši u budućnost
U predskazano zlatno doba

Bila je crna zvezdana noć
More je bilo jasno i bistro
Idući kroz senke
Bližio se obećani čas

Svetla su se čvrsto održavala
Klizeći po peni
Sva gospoda i dame
Na putu ka svom večnom domu

Lusteri su se ljuljali
Sa balustrada
Orkestar je svirao
Pesme o izbledeloj ljubavi

Stražar je sanjario
Dok su se balski plesači vrteli
Sanjao je da Titanik tone
U podzemni svet

Leo je svoju crtanku uzeo
Često je to činio
Zatvorio je oči i slikao
Scenario u svojoj glavi

Kupidon se udario u prsa
Slomivši se očas posla
Njemu najbližoj ženi
U krilo je pao

Čuo je glasno komešanje
Nešto nije zvučalo kako treba
Njegov unutrašnji glas govorio je
Da tu neće moći dugo ostati

Odteturao se do srednje palube
Nema sad vremena za spavanje
Voda na palubi
Već je metar duboka

Dimnjak se naginjao u stranu
Začuli su se teški koraci
On je ušetao u vihor
Nebo se svud oko njega cepalo

Brod je tonuo
Svemir se širom otvorio
Sudnji čas je došao
Anđeli su otišli

Svetla u hodniku
Trepere prigušeno i slabo
Leševi već plutaju
U trupu sa dvostrukim dnom

Onda je motor eksplodirao
Propeleri nisu uspeli da se pokrenu
Kotlovi su se preopteretili
Pramac broda se prepolovio

Putnici su leteli
Napred, nazad, daleko i brzo
Mrmljali su, teturali se i padali
Svi jedan iznureniji od drugog

Zavesa se razdre nadvoje
Između dvanaest i jedan sat
Nikakva promena, nikakvo iznenadno čudo
Ne bi moglo ispraviti ono što je učinjeno

Stražar je sanjario ležeći
Na četrdeset pet stepeni
Sanjao je da Titanik tone
Na kolena pada

Velington je spavao
Njegov krevet je počeo da klizi
Njegovo hrabro srce je lupalo
Gurnuo je stolove u stranu

Čaša razbijenog kristala
Leži razbacana okolo
Prikačio je oba svoja pištolja
Koliko dugo će istrajati?

Njegovih ljudi i njegovih drugova
Nije bilo na vidiku
U tišini je čekao
Vreme i mesto da interveniše

Hodnik je bio uzan
U vazduhu crnilo
Video je raznorazne tuge
Na sve strane čuo glasove

Alarmna zvona su zvonila
Da zaustave nadolazeću plimu
Prijatelji i ljubavnici jedni su se
Uz druge držali

Majke i njihove kćeri
Silazile su niz stepenice
Uskakale u ledeno hladnu vodu
Za ljubav i sažaljenje molile su

Bogataš, gospodin Astor
Poljubio je svoju dragu ženu
Nije mogao znati
Da će mu to biti poslednje putovanje u životu

Kalvin, Blejk i Vilson
Kockali su se u mraku
Nijedan od njih neće doživeti da
Ispriča tu priču pri iskrcavanju

Digao se brat protiv brata
U svakoj prilici
Tukli su se i poklali
U jednom smrtonosnom plesu

Spustili su čamce za spasavanje
Iz tonuće olupine
Bilo je izdajnika, bilo je otpadnika
Slomljenih kičmi i slomljenih vratova

Biskup je napustio svoju kabinu
Da bi pomogao drugima u nevolji
Gledao je prema nebesima
Rekao, “Na tebi je da brineš o jadnicima”

Dejvi, čuvar bordela
Izašao je napolje, raspustio svoje devojke
Ugledao kako voda sve dublja postaje
Video kako njegov svet menja se

Džim Dendi se nasmešio
Da pliva nikad nije naučio
Ugledao je malo dete bogalja
I prepustio mu svoje mesto

Video je kako zvezde sijaju
Strujeći sa istoka
Smrt je besnela
Ali on je sada bio miran

Zatvorili su brodske otvore
Ali nisu izdržali
Udavili su se na stepeništu
Od mesinga i uglačanog zlata

Leo je rekao Kliu
Imam osećaj da ludim
Ali on je već bio izgubio razum
Ma koliko razuma imao

Pokušao je da blokira vrata
Da ih sve spase štete
Krv iz otvorene rane
Tekla mu je niz ruku

Latice su padale sa cvetova
Dok nisu sve nestale
U tim dugim i užasnim satima
Vračeva kletva se ispunjavala

Domaćin je sipao rakiju
Lagano je tonuo
Ostao je do samog kraja i
Poslednji nastradao

Bilo je mnogo, mnogo drugih
Koji će zauvek ostati bezimeni
Oni okeanom nikad plovili nisu
Svoje kuće nikad napuštali nisu

Stražar je sanjario
Šteta je učinjena
On je sanjao da Titanik tone
I pokušao da to nekom kaže

Kapetan, jedva dišući
Klečao je na kormilu
Iznad njega, i ispod njega
Pedeset hiljada tona čelika

Gledao je u svoj kompas
I zurio u njegovu površinu
Igla je pokazivala nadole
Znao je da je izgubio trku

U mračnom proviđenju
Setio se godina prošlih
Čitao je Knjigu Otkrovenja
I napunio svoju čašu suzama

Kad je Smrt obavila svoj zadatak
Bilo je hiljadu šesto pokojnika
Dobrih, loših, bogatih, siromašnih
Najmilijih i najboljih

Čekali su na iskrcavanju
I pokušali su da razumeju
Ali nema načina da se shvati
sud Božiji

Vesti su stigle telegramom
I udarile smrtonosnom silom
Ljubav se ugasila
Sve je prošlo samo od sebe

Stražar je sanjario
O svemu što se desiti može
Sanjao je kako Titanik tone
U plavog mora dubine

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