Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Excerpt: Dance Me to the End of Love

  This morning I was listening to music while working out at the gym. Of the hundreds of songs on my ipod, one came up that made me stop running –  Leonard Cohen's – Dance Me To The End Of Love. The music moved me so deeply, I had to sit down. All I could see before my eyes were Joshi and Manya –  the main characters in my novel. 
  I ran home and decided to take a small excerpt from The Last Daughter of Prussia to share with you. If you have a chance, listen to the song on You Tube – it's Joshi one thousand times over. 
The first line says, "Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin."
  I love it especially because Joshi is an amazing violin player and music is what saves him.
(Strangely, this particular You Tube video takes place in a death camp  – which is also where Joshi dreams of Manya.)
  Just so you know,  in the excerpt below - Ben is Joshi's friend and Aztec, Manya's Trakehner stallion.
  The photos were taken by my talented photographer friend, Christine Matthäi who generously lends her work to this blog. 

Lovers
(c) Christine Matthäi
Visit her website. You will be amazed!

Excerpt: 

  That night Joshi dreamed he was flying high above Stutthof prison camp in a body that was light and clean and free. In the distance, where the sandy shore ran beside the Baltic Sea, a group of people was following a flock of cranes into the west. He recognized Manya and called her name, his heart pounding with excitement. She was walking backwards, looking up at a lagging bird when it suddenly swooped to ground and landed beside her boot, turning the sand into ice and changing itself into Aztec. Afraid that Aztec would slip, she began to tug at his reins.
  Joshi rushed forward on the wind to help her, but when he looked down, he saw that he was naked, his legs just skin and bones. Manya didn’t know him anymore and swinging herself onto the stallion, she cantered off.
  “Wake up,” he heard Ben say. Joshi groaned and opened his eyes. “Sorry,” whispered Ben, “but you were shouting for someone and I was afraid you’d wake Esser.”
  Joshi lay still, trying to hold on to the dream.
  “So, who’s Manya?” asked Ben.
  “Along with my sister, she’s my reason for living.” 

Photo by (c) Christine Matthäi


Dance Me To The End Of Love Lyrics
Songwriters: Cohen, Leonard;


Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love

Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone
Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon
Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Oh dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the wedding now, dance me on and on
Dance me very tenderly and dance me very long
We're both of us beneath our love, we're both of us above
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love

Dance me to the children who are asking to be born
Dance me through the curtains that our kisses have outworn
Raise a tent of shelter now, though every thread is torn
Dance me to the end of love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Touch me with your naked hand or touch me with your glove
Dance me to the end of love, dance me to the end of love
Dance me to the end of love

Until next time...
– Marina Gottlieb Sarles

c) All content and photos are the private property of the Gottlieb family, unless otherwise stated or linked,  and may not be used without permission.
(c) Privatbesitz Gottlieb Familie

1 comment:

  1. How extraordinary — the writing, the photos — all of it: wow.

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