The disfigured princess

I have stumbled upon this amazing song. It is by Tina Arena and it's called Je m'appelle Bagdad.
I fell in love with the song once i listened to it. It's beautifully written and so true.

This is the link for the video (hopefully it works):
http://videos.tf1.fr/video/musique/clips/clips_s/0,,3297561,00.html

and here is the meaning of the lyrics:

J’ai vécu heureuse - I lived happily
Dans mes palais - in my palaces
D’or noir et de pierres précieuses - of black gold and precious stones
Le Tigre glissait - The Tigris was flowing
Sur les pavés de cristal - on crystal cobblestones
Mille califes se bousculaient - thousand caliphs lined up
Sur mes carnets de bal - on my bal lists

On m’appelait - They called me
La Cité pleine de grâce - the city full of grace
Dieu - God
Comme le temps passe - how time goes by

On m’appelait - they called me
Capitale de lumière - capital of light
Dieu - God
Que tout se perd - everything gets lost

*Chorus*
Je m’appelle Bagdad - My name is Baghdad
Et je suis tombée - and I fell
Sous le feu des blindés - under the fire of the tanks
Sous le feu des blindés - under the fire of the tanks
Je m’appelle Bagdad - My name is Baghdad
Princesse défigurée - defaced princess
Et Shéhérazade - and Sheherazad
M’a oubliée - has forgotten me

Je vis sur mes terres - I live on my land
Comme une pauvre mendiante - as a poor begger
Sous les bulldozers - under the bulldozers
Les esprits me hantent - ghosts haunt me
Je pleure ma beauté en ruine - I weep over my beauty in ruins
Sous les pierres encore fumantes - under stones still smoldering
C’est mon âme qu’on assassine - its my soul they murder

On m’appelait - they called me
Capitale de lumière - capital of light
Dieu - God
Que tout se perd - everything gets lost

*Chorus*

Mes contes des mille et une nuits - My thousands and one nights stories
N’intéressent plus personne - don't interest anybody anymore
Ils ont tout détruit - they destroyed everything

*Chorus*

The First and Hopefully Not The Last

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

When I left Baghdad everything there was time frozen. The people that have passed away are still living in my memory, my friends are still attending second year of high school and most importantly Baghdad and the whole of Iraq is proceeding in this universe peacefully. What I see on the news is another city, another country and a whole different world that I do not recognise. The entire affair does not seem real to me as if it's a movie that will shortly end.