Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Local Color


In Florence, there is a man, who I believe is homeless, and who I see every day. I consider him a part of Florence’s "local color". I don’t know the age of the man, or where he is from. I believe him to be around 45, but with the life he leads, who knows?

I see this man in a variety of places around the city, and suspect that the city has ordinances which prohibit people from "setting up shop" in any one place. Sometimes when I see him, he has on clean clothes and has had a hair cut, but those days are rare. He travels light, with no suitcase, bags, or "extras", and when I see him, he usually only has a carton of wine ( or 2).

Sometimes I see him in my piazza, Santa Croce, watching the puppet shows like a child. The puppeteer always includes him in his antics, and he delights like a child and with the other children in the performance.

Every night, he gathers in front of the Uffizi to listen to music. He cheers for Ken and Alice, (the singers) and his favorite song is U2's With or Without You. When he is here listening to music, he is always very drunk to the point that he can hardly walk, and so he sits (or lays) in front of Ken and Alice and drinks his wine. Occasionally, with much effort, he gets up and walks to the crowd sitting on the steps to bum a cigarette and a light.

Even though the set that Ken and Alice play every night is exactly the same, and always in the same order, "the wino" starts yelling early on for them to play "With or Without You". When they start the opening licks, he cheers and gets to his feet and sings alonng,

I wonder what the song means to him?

With Or Without You lyrics

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you
With or without you
With or without you
Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you

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