Category: Fado

White Doves

Pombas Brancas Translation: White doves Flying high Scratching the shadows Of the large clouds There they go Doves that do not return They bring within Their wings In rosy beaks Scattered clouds On the sea Doves of my singing Merely singing Various recollections Coming on the paths Nobody knows Where they go The Doves that…

Carminho-Silence is never empty

Nunca é silêncio vão Translation: Silence is never empty When it is between you and me. Thinking about whatever may be All I know is I feel love When you’re silent with me Here we are the two of us Holding hands inside my car You alway console me that way Silent, next to me…

Carminho-I said goodbye…

Disse-te adeus   Translation: I said goodbye to you, I don’t remember What day in September it was Only that it was dawn The street was empty And even the moon, not wanting to intrude, Pretended that it saw nothing We smiled at farewell Like people who know that life Is just another name that…

Camaron, Me, and ‘Attar

El Padre Santo de Roma   Translation: Lailolailolailo, Leilo … Holy Father in Rome, I have to ask if the sins that I have if the sins I have, if the sins I have, can they be forgiven? I’m like a sad bird that goes from branch to branch, singing its suffering, singing its suffering,…

Carminho-My love, the sailor

  I feel jealous Of the green waves of the sea That insistently try to kiss your body, as you stand before the tides. I feel jealous Of the wind that betrays me Kissing you as you stand in the bow, And runs away through the deck. I feel jealous Of the light of the…

Quevedo-Love Constant Beyond Death

  Amor Constante Mas Allá de la Muerte (Love Constant Beyond Death) By Francisco de Quevedo Translation by A.Z. Foreman That terminal shadow may with darkness seal my eyes shut when it steals white day from me, and in an instant, flattering the zeal of this my eager soul, let it go free. But on this…

‘Attar and Carminho

The Soul’s Dilemma Once again, each day, I travel the path of your love Every night without fail I mourn your absence anew. My soul lacks the courage to love one such as you- and my heart lacks the strength to abandon you too -‘Attar From Love’s Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition.  New World…

Songs from Andalus

Fado: Casa de Fados (from Carlos Saura’s film Fados)   Lyrics (from the film’s subtitles): First singer: A lost friendship can never return It’s a forged firendship  That jokingly comes and goes It’s a forged friendship that jokingly comes and goes No one gives a thing If behind that gesture there is no value Only a…