Weaver of words, who lives alone, in fear and sorrow,

[ET Awful]

Where is the world that set you free perhaps to-morrow?
Where is the earth, where is the sky, where is the light
You long for ?
What hope have you where you are now,
Natalia Gorbanevskaïa?

Inside the ward, naked and cruel, where life is stolen
From those who try to stay alife and still be human
Where are the friends, where are the men, who among them
Can defend you?
Where is the child you never see,
Natalia Gorbanevskaïa?

What is there left, behind the door, that never opens?
Are you insane, as they say you are, or just forsaken?
Are you still there, do you still care, or are you lost for ever?
I know this song, you’ll never hear,
Natalia Gorbanevskaïa?




- I'd forgotten about this tune until I was listening to an old Joan Baez album today. Natalia Gorbanevskaia was a dissident poet in the Soviet Union who they decided to lock up in an asylum for writing poems speaking the truth. When they let her out, she'd write another poem, and they'd lock her back up. She ended up having a baby while in a Soviet prison. If I'm not mistaken, she was finally able to emigrate to France. She's an excellent example of having the courage to speak out.