The Square Has a Song

[Куплет 1] By the spice carts, where the awnings braid the noon, He set his case beside a stand of yellow pears. A woman with a paper crown was humming out of tune; He caught her little melody and gave it somewhere to go. [Алдынғы қайырма] Coins rang soft against the wood, A few more faces understood. [Қайырма] Come closer, come closer, the square has a song, A hundred small stories can travel along. The baker’s late train, the sailor’s first day, He turns what they carry to something they can say. Come closer, come closer, don’t hurry away— This market remembers the notes that we made. [Куплет 2] A boy in a green scarf sold oranges by the crate, His sister kept the change and watched the far-off road. A tailor from the harbor said, “my ship leaves eight,” The singer gave him one bright chord to lighten up the load. [Алдынғы қайырма] Then the crowd began to sway, And strangers found a tune to stay. [Қайырма] Come closer, come closer, the square has a song, A hundred small stories can travel along. The baker’s late train, the sailor’s first day, He turns what they carry to something they can say. Come closer, come closer, don’t hurry away— This market remembers the notes that we made. [Көпір] At dusk, the flower seller folded up her stand, The boy in green walked home with oranges in his hand. The sailor tipped his cap; the last coin spun and fell, And every face he’d met became a line he knew too well. [Final chorus] Come closer, come closer, the square has a song, A hundred small stories can travel along. The baker’s late train, the sailor’s first day, He turns what they carry to something they can say. Come closer, come closer, let evening delay— This market remembers the notes that we made. [Аутро] When the stalls come down and the voices grow small, He keeps all their stories, and sings them for all.