L'affaire Sofia

The Sofia Affair

L'affaire Sofia

A language pairUna parella lingüística
an opportunityuna oportunitat
to bury the Patricia affaird’enterrar l’affaire Patrícia
emotional spring cleaningfer dissabte emocional

A moment in each languageUna estona en cada idioma
weaving a conversationtrenar una conversació
I teach you, you teach mejo t’ensenyo, tu m’ensenyes
and we both learn togetheri ens ensenyem tots dos

She was born in Greece, cradle of great thinkersElla era nascuda a Grècia, bressol de grans pensadors
From Parmenides to Socrates, from Aristotle to PlatoDe Parmènides a Sòcrates, d’Aristòtil a Plató
And I, who knew nothing of those strange guysI jo que desconeixia tots aquells senyors estranys
imagined them with beards and making grand gesturesme’ls imaginava amb barba i fotent gestos molt grans

I tried to impress herVaig provar d’impressionar-la
by secretly Googlingfent un Google d’amagat
"Llull, Pujols, Ramon Sibiuda"“Llull, Pujols, Ramon Sibiuda”
None of them rang a bell for herCap dels tres li van sonar
While showing me the potentialTot mostrant-me l’erotisme
of Catalan's eroticismpotencial del català
she said: "Joan, I want you to teach meva dir: “Joan, vull que m’ensenyis
to improve my pronunciation"a millorar el pronunciar”

And if you had seen how she laughed trying to say cotton candyI si haguessis vist com reia intentant dir cotó fluix
I would have said "Wake up, soldier!" the warrior in youhagués dit “Despertaferro!” l’almogàver que hi ha en tu
My friend, if you ever find yourself in that spot, don’t think twiceAmic meu, si mai t’hi trobes no t’ho pensis ni un segon
and let philosophy teach us to see the worldi que la filosofia ens ensenyi a veure el món

She asked me what I believedEm va preguntar en què creia
while she inhaled the smokementre s’empassava el fum
and stepping into an indie discoi entrant a una indie disco
I quoted, apparently, some guy named Humevaig citar, es veu, un tal Hume

"I only believe in what I see“Només crec en el que veig jo
and I only see you all"i només us veig a vós”
(When I start with formalities(Quan començo amb formalismes
it’s a sign that I’m nervous)és senyal que estic nerviós)

She said: "Your oratory leaves much to be desiredVa dir: “La teva oratòria deixa molt a desitjar
Often silence is better. Often action is better"Sovint val més un silenci. Sovint val més actuar”
And taking that maxim with utmost dignityI entomant aquella màxima amb el màxim de dignitat
I picked up my ego from the ground and she started to dancejo vaig collir l’ego de terra i ella es va posar a ballar

And how she danced!I com ballava!
Suddenly, the circle squaredQue tot de cop, el cercle es quadrava
And when Song 2 by Blur playedI quan Song2 de Blur sonava
whispering about Epicurus, she spoke to mexiuxiuejant d’Epicur em parlava

As we climbed the stairsMentre pujàvem l’escala
of her apartment, she let slipdel seu pis, va deixar anar
"Now you choose the plot“Ara tu tries la trama
or flow, let yourself go"ot flueix, deixa’t portar”

And I said: "Let’s make living a partyI vaig dir: “Fem de viure una festa
let’s do it before we grow oldfem-ho abans de fer-nos grans
because tomorrow it’ll be impossibleque demà serà impossible
because tomorrow it’ll be too late"que demà ja serà tard”

And for once the words, the exact combinationI per un cop les paraules, l’exacta combinació
became alchemy, dissolved reasonvan esdevenir alquímia, van dissoldre la raó
I dismissed all doubts, fully enlightenedVaig descartar tots els dubtes plenament il·luminat
when I saw all the prisms: good, beauty, and truthquan li vaig veure tots els prismes: bé, bellesa i veritat

And with SchopenhauerI amb Schopenhauer
we ended up at an after-hourvam acabar en un afterhour
And all talking about SchopenhauerI tot parlant de Schopenhauer
we ended up at an after-hourvam acabar en un afterhour

A kiss, it was already dayUn petó, ja era de dia
in a little alley in Bornen un carreró del Born
happily, all condemning ourselvesfeliçment, tot condemnant-nos
to seek the eternal returna buscar l’etern retorn