Spanish folksongs
- shri8prak
- Jul 30
- 1 min read
I found an incredible book of Spanish folk-songs recently, which agonizingly only gives the English of most of the songs.
However, here is an Asturian song, with a lovely haiku-like earthiness and stillness:
Cuando paso por el puente
siempre te veo lavando
la hermosura de tu cara
el agua la va llevando.
When I pass by the bridge
I always see you washing.
The beauty of your face
the water is washing it away.
This hinges on a pun between 'lavando' (washing) and 'llevando' (taking away).
I was reminded of a line from Yeats: 'All that's beautiful drifts away/Like the waters':
I heard the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
And one by one we drop away.'
They had hands like claws, and their knees
Were twisted like the old thorn-trees
By the waters.
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'
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