Songs + Lyrics

Can I Forgive Him (Original Demo Recorded March 1993) « See All Songs

ESMERALDA

I am Esmeralda Agrón, señora
I know I’ve no right to speak.
My son is not the savage boy you see
The cape, the sneer, the slicked-back hair
Hides the child I nursed and bathed, señora

Please don’t turn your eyes from me
Your son, gone to God, and mine to blame
My fated son, he too is gone
The state will see to that I am sure, señora
The state will see to that, I am sure

MRS. YOUNG

You Spanish people, you come to this country
But nothing here changes your lives
Ungrateful immigrants, asking for pity
When all of your answers are knives
This city makes a cartoon of a crime
Capes and umbrellas, the glorification of slime
I have to face this horror, señora.

MRS. KRZESINSKI

My religion asks me to pray for the murderer’s soul
But I think you’d would have to be Jesus on the cross
To open your heart and after such a loss.
Can I forgive him?
Can I forgive him?
No, I cannot

Friends become strangers
Compassion is hard to express in words
The trembling flowers they bring
Fear in the roots and the stem
What happened to me, they know could happen to them
Can I forgive him?
No, I cannot
Can I forgive him?
No

ESMERALDA

Only God can say “Forgive”
His son too received a knife
But we go on, we have to live
With this cross we call our life

MRS. YOUNG

It feels like a bomb fell
And wave after wave come the aftershocks

MRS. KRZESINSKI

You can’t believe that it’s true
There must be some mistake
You drift through this nightmare
From which you can’t wake

MRS. KRZESINSKI & MRS. YOUNG

Can I forgive him?
Can I forgive him?
No, I cannot ESMERELDA

Can I forgive him? Only god can say “Forgive”
Can I forgive him?
No, I cannot His son too received a knife
Can I forgive him We go on
Can I forgive him We have to live
No, I cannot
Can I forgive him?
No

© 1997 Lyrics by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott