Two of my favorite Fado songs, by two of my favorite singers, Cristina Branco and Carminho: Translation: This love is not a river It has the vastness of the sea The green dance of the waves Sobbing in my eyes. I tried to forget the words Unspoken between us But hanging over the silence On…
More fado…
Translation: Lady of Nazareth, pray for me, I am also a fisherman walking on the sea. Off life’s dock in endless waves, I’ve seen my little boat of dreams sinking perpetually. My nets cast with confidence, I hauled in only disappointments on a bad sea. I lost the rudder of hope, I can not row well. Lady of…
Like a Candle…
from Figs and Thistles: First Fig BY EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light! Source: Poetry (June 1918). Hafez Translation: In faithfulness to your love, I am famous like the candle In…
Blow winds, blow
Ḥallāj: Translation (a bit of license taken): O wind of the dawn, I say to the gazelle it only makes me thirstier, the water of this well I have a beloved whose love lives within me And if she likes, she walks on my cheeks as well Her spirit is my spirit and my…
Cristina Branco and Hafez
Cristina Branco “Vida Triste” Translation: Condemned to live sad Is he who loves much. You, my heart, never withstood The love that the pain inflames. Again my tortured heart Sought shelter in thy breast, uselessly; No one will console the burning thirst Nor is it is satisfied with the delights of passion. And always, for…
Words of love…
Translation: There are words we kiss, As if they had mouths Words of love of hope, Immense love, crazy hope Naked words that kiss you When the night loses taste, Words that refuse, The walls of your sorrow. Suddenly, colorful, Between words without color, Expected, unexpected Like poetry, love. The name of the beloved, Revealed…
The certitude of my brightest love
Hafez: I have never seen a more beautiful reminder than the words of love that linger in this turning dome از صدای سخن عشق نديدم خوشتر يادگاری که در اين گنبد دوار بماند Cristina Branco: The certitude of my brightest love The certitude of my brightest…
Ibn ‘Arabi, Hallaj, and Carminho
When my Beloved appears, with what eye do I see Him? With His eye not with mine; for no one sees Him except Himself. -Ibn ‘Arabi Original: إذا تجلى حبيبي بأي عين تراه بعينه لا بعيني فما يراه سواه Hallaj: I saw my Lord with the eye of my Heart, I…
Fado, wind and sea
06 Fim End Not birds, nor stars, nor sails Are as beautiful in my breast Daybreak falls silent in my eyes The night enveloped me so With this pain as if from a dagger With this cry of a love without end Love without end, love without time and measure Water drawn from the distance,…
Carminho and Rumi-Pain
A Voz Translation: Sometimes there is a voice that rises Higher than the world and higher than us And makes my eyes weep, when it sings In the tears that silence my voice It plunges my senses and time To the farthest point of who I am And embraces that place, so gray…