Paul Simon - Can I Forgive Him lyrics

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 It 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. 1ST MOTHER 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, Señora. 2ND MOTHER 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 Compa**ion 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 1ST MOTHER Feels like a bomb fell And wave after wave come the aftershocks 2ND MOTHER You can't believe that it's true There must be some mistake You drift through this nightmare from which you can't wake BOTH MOTHERS Can I forgive him? Can I forgive him, No, I cannot Can I forgive him? Can I forgive him, no, I cannot Can I forgive him? Can I forgive him, no, I cannot Can I forgive him No, I cannot.