2014-01-22

STORIES THAT WILL FOREVER BE OURS

Though it's late: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Usually, New Year is about resolutions, right? This year, before making any resolutions, I'd like to share an inspiring video about resolutions with you. It is a modern poetry in German, written and performed by Julia Engelmann for CampusTV event at Bielefeld University. For those of you who don't understand German, I've taken the liberty of free translating it. It's a little long, but it's really worth to read.


The poetry was inspired by Asaf Avidan's "One day (Reckoning Song)".

One day baby, we'll be old
Oh baby, we'll be old
And think of all the stories that we could have told

I am the master of the pranks, when it comes to self-deception

A genuine toddler, when I stand before tasks
Let myself be inspired by levity, when someone else does it
I think too much, I wait too long
I resolve to do too much and in the end do too little
I hold myself back too many times, I doubt everything
I would like to be wise, but that's pretty stupid


I would like to say so much but remain mostly silent
Because if I would say it all then it would be too much

I would like to do so many things
My list is very long but I will never do everything anyway
So I do not even start
Instead, I hang aimlessly on my smartphone
I wait for the next Friday to come
"I'll do it later!" is my basic daily line
I am so terribly lazy like a pebble on the ocean floor

And one day baby, I'll be old.
I'll be old and think of all the stories that I could have told.

And you?
You mumble the same resolutions  again

Every year anew at New Year's Eve, faithful to your champagne glass
And the end of December you realize, that you're right when you say

That you blow them again this year

Should 2013 not be the first year of the rest of your new life?
You wanted to lose weight, get up earlier, go out more often, reach out to your dreams...
...but, like every year, as though you did not expect it, the everyday life came in between

Our life is a waiting room
But no one calls us
We are young, we have a lot of time
Why should we take a risk - we don't want to make any mistakes
We want nothing to lose

And so, there is still so much to do
Our lists stay long
And so it goes, day after day

And one day baby, we'll be old
Oh baby, we'll be old
And think of all the stories that we could have told

And the stories we will tell instead, will be sad conjunctives, like...
...once, I almost ran a marathon and
...almost read that famous book and
...once, I almost stay awake until the clouds turned purple again and
...almost, we almost unmasked ourselves and saw, that we are both the same 

...and had almost told each other how much we mean to each other.
That is what we'll said

We will conceal that we were just lazy and cowardly
We will secretly wish to stay here a little bit longer
When we are old, and our days run short, only then we will understand

That we never had anything to lose
Because we ourselves can choose the life we want to lead

So let's write the stories that we would like to tell later!
Let's stay up late at night!

Let's climb to the city's highest rooftop, laughing, singing the greatest of all songs!
Let's do party, throw confettis around and watch them fall to the ground!

Let's believe in ourselves
I don't care if it's crazy

Those who looks closely will see, that courage is just a anagram of happiness
And whoever we were, let us be whoever we want to be

We have waited too long already
The meaning of life is to live
Let us make as many mistakes as possible and learn as much as possible from them
You reap what you sow, so let's sow good seeds
Let's do everything because we want to, not because we have to

We are still young and lively - everyone should know that
Our time will pass, that will happen anyway
Until then we are free, and there is nothing to lose

Let's unmask ourselves, and we'll see, we are the same
And then we can say that we mean a lot to each other
And the life that we want, we can choose ourselves

So go on!
Let's write the stories that we would like to tell later.
And one day baby, we'll be old.
Oh baby, we'll be old.
And think of all the stories that are forever ours.


So are you going to "just" make a list of resolutions, or actually start living your life the way you want it to be?

No comments:

Post a Comment