A Cristo [English translation]

They told me that Christ came to Rome

and he was even told: Where are you going? – quo vadis?1 –

Pick up all your rags and ideas,

but no, don’t ever come to Rome again.

Do you want to end up killed

by those good centurions that you know,

who are praying and fooling you every day

in the name of their authority?

Come back on the sly to Galilee,

that is a very productive land,

get back at least the land that was yours

from the ashamed eye of a Moses – Moshe Dayan –

This is what I learned through not so clear ways

by an august emperor who is in the bar – a drunkard –

Now, you have to explain to me, my Lord,

why now you are neither here nor there.

«My son, I’m doing my work,

I plug the holes where I can;

Right now I’m busy up there in Ireland

and they set me up also in Vietnam.

Some gentlemen, who are made up Quakers – the Americans –

have invented stronger angels – the Phantom X –

so the ones built here, homemade

don’t even have time to fly.

They even involved my cousin,

whose name is still Beelzebub.

What can I say? I’m not moving,

I look for fresh, I’ll stay here».

Wow, Jesus Christ, how cool they are!

Well, I wonder what I was thinking you could do,

I just wanted to see – I’m ignorant –

what you were doing for the world you’ve created.

But what screws both of us

is that we go to work every day

and that, look at that, what a destiny,

we have to just shut up and bear it.

And let’s not mind our business,

let’s not mind them for goodness sake,

don’t mind your own business until peace comes.

1. In Latin.

• Artist:Antonello Venditti
• Album:Quando Verrà Natale (1974)