can i forgive him

paul simon

i am esmeralda agron

senora. 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

it hides the child i nursed and bathed

senora. 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

senora

the state will see to that

i am sure. you spanish people

you come to this country

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

senora. my religion

asks me to pray for the murderer's soul

but i think you'd have to be

jesus on the cross

to open your heart after such a loss

can i forgive him?

can i forgive him?

no

i cannot

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

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

feels like a bomb fell

and wave after wave come the aftershocks

you can't believe that it's true

there must be some mistake

you drift through this nightmare from which you

can't wake

can i forgive him?

can i forgive him

no

i cannot

can t forgive him?

can i forgive him

no

i cannot

can i forgive him?

can 1 forgive him

no

i cannot

can i forgive him

no

i cannot.