Playing her parchment moon
Precosia comes
along a watery path of laurels and crystal lights.
The starless silence, fleeing
from her rhythmic tambourine,
falls where the sea whips and sings,
his night filled with silvery swarms.
High atop the mountain peaks
the sentinels are weeping;
they guard the tall white towers
of the English consulate.
And gypsies of the water
for their pleasure erect
little castles of conch shells
and arbors of greening pine.
Playing her parchment moon
Precosia comes.
The wind sees her and rises,
the wind that never slumbers.
Naked Saint Christopher swells,
watching the girl as he plays
with tongues of celestial bells
on an invisible bagpipe.
Gypsy, let me lift your skirt
and have a look at you.
Open in my ancient fingers
the blue rose of your womb.
Precosia throws the tambourine
and runs away in terror.
But the virile wind pursues her
with his breathing and burning sword.
The sea darkens and roars,
while the olive trees turn pale.
The flutes of darkness sound,
and a muted gong of the snow.
Precosia, run, Precosia!
Or the green wind will catch you!
Precosia, run, Precosia!
And look how fast he comes!
A satyr of low-born stars
with their long and glistening tongues.
Precosia, filled with fear,
now makes her way to that house
beyond the tall green pines
where the English consul lives.
Alarmed by the anguished cries,
three riflemen come running,
their black capes tightly drawn,
and berets down over their brow.
The Englishman gives the gypsy
a glass of tepid milk
and a shot of Holland gin
which Precosia does not drink.
And while she tells them, weeping,
of her strange adventure,
the wind furiously gnashes
against the slate roof tiles.
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Comments
1 - 9 of 9
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I enjoyed this on an artistic level, not involved with presumptions about nationalities and cultural generalization, the poem is about a girl, in somewhat mystical circumstances. Her tambourine gives her the impression of controlling the night, rendering the stars into silence, until a lustful character in the form of the wind, assaults her peace. She flees to the nearest place perhaps, or one that might offer safety, and the wind, in an ominous background, pursues her still.
As a story, or legend it is magical and fantastic. In Spanish, quite lyrical, and even in translation it has a piercing sense of mood, happiness, to danger, to the seeming safety...but in lingering pursuit.
The imagery of the parchment moon, the sights and sounds all give the reader a sense that there is much more to the story- symbolism open to many interpretations...PK -
The poem moves me, too. St. Christopher is known to have carried the Christchild and the weight of the world across a raging stream. Could it be that Lorca is purposely contorting this exalted religious story to mock the lewd nature of man beneath his holy robes?
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I read this poem. Then I read the comments. My comment on the comments is, I think everyone is trying to be to politically, geographically, and historically correct. It seems like maybe they missed the whole point. This poem moved me. And besides, I liked the name. gypsyfish
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When Precosia needs protection from the lewd advances of St. Christopher, she does not go to the law; the local lord; or the Church, all of which could have offered her asylum. Instead, she flees to the English consul, who, most likely, was fascinated by gypsy lore and traditions, as the English tended to be. The Spanish, however, regarded the gypsies as a degraded race subject to the predations of superior races. For the Spanish, gypsies were eminently sexual beings; whereas for the the English they were anthrological specimens. So it made perfect sense for the persecuted gypsy to recourse to the English consul for protection. The consul, however, would must likely have offered her a cup of tea with "tepid milk," not gin.
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I don't know who the sentinels are. Are they Spaniards? No, they seem to be Englishmen, the "cold peaks" themselves. I feel Lorca is being facetious here, or ironic. Especially because he then talks about water gypsies who build things out of shells and pine.
Edited on Jan 15, 2:54 p.m. because ''. -
ea: It may at first seem unusual that Garcia Lorca uses the English as the epitome of civilization in this poem -- open, empathetic and fair, and if not classless, then at least protective of the underclass; but this is very much how Spaniards view Englishmen. The English defeated the Spanish Armada but they also rescued Spain from Napoleon; they grabbed Gibralter but they also helped preserve the territorial integrity of the Spain main. The Spanish also have always been in awe of British institutions, and particularly parliament. Garcia Lorca in this poem taps into this strong vein in Anglo-Hispanic relations. This anglophilia is also evident among Latin Americans. When Spain offered home rule to the Cuban rebels in 1898 and promised that Cuba's relationship with Spain would be just like Canada's with England, the Cubans rejected the offer because for such an arrangement to work "Spaniards would have to become Englishmen." The defeat of Spain by the United States in the Spanish-American War did bring about a national trauma that would affect the cosmic vision of Spaniards and foster regionalisms that would eventually lead to the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and Garcia's Lorca's own death. Much the same thing happened in 1905 when Japan defeated Russia, precipitating a crisis of identity that led to the fall of the old order.
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What does the English Consulate have to do with Lorca's political mind? He was born on in the year of the Spanish-American War and became associated with that Generation of '98... Is he making some reference to all that in this love poem, do you think?
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It takes a great poet to stick "English consulate" in a poem and not have the whole poetic structure collapse under him. The greatest poets are those who can handle the unpoetic in poetical ways. In this regard, Garcia Lorca's countryman and contemporary Miguel Hernandez was an even greater master.
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Who is Precosia? No matter, I was still able to enjoy this piece. The descriptions and story were captivating and entertaining
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