Chove

"Chove" was the first word I learned in galego. A few days before Karl left for Porriño, in September (2004), I'd gone to every bookstore in Sacramento looking for a copy of Federico García Lorca's La casa de Bernarda Alba for my class in Spanish theater. I finally found it in Sweetbriar Books in Davis. That wasn't surprising, but one of the other books I found that day, the
Galician-English/English-Galician Dictionary was. Karl took it with him on that work trip. I learned "chove" from road signs.



I don't know if the dictionary came in handy, but it did surprise Karl's colegas gallegos. One of them loaned him Luar na Lubre's Lo mejor de XV aniversario and he burned those beautful celtíbero songs into his iTunes. What sounds like bagpipe is the Galician version of that instrument, the gaita. The Celtic presence still hangs in the clouds over Galicia, and seeps into its land, verdant from the water those clouds drop onto it.

When I got there in October, it rained almost the whole time, but this only enhanced the atmosphere of Santiago de Compostela. Water inundated the streets of the city along with more pilgrims than usual in the last months of that Jacobean year.



As I transferred my photos to a disc one day, I listened to the Luar na Lubre selections, repeating "Chove en Santiago"a few times, trying to figure out why its feel was so familiar. Once I'd gotten the galego lyrics (which I googled) into enough Spanish, and when that wasn't enough, used the dictionary to get the last few key words in English, it was quite clear. An additional search confirmed that the lyrics were not simply Lorca-esque, they were Federico García Lorca's words. Originally titled "Madrigal a cibda de Santiago" ("Madrigal to the City of Santiago"), it's one of about 6 he wrote in Galician. That haunting melody or music doesn't just reflect the mood of the poem for me, or even evoke it. It actually is the words. I reproduce the original lyric (from cancioneros.com) along with my, yes, unworthy, but lovingly rendered, Spanish and English translations.

Galego
Chove en Santiago
meu doce amor
camelia branca do ar
brila entebrecida ao sol.
Chove en Santiago
na noite escura.
Herbas de prata e sono
cobren a valeira lúa.
Olla a choiva pola rúa
laio de pedra e cristal.
Olla no vento esvaido
soma e cinza do teu mar.
Soma e cinza do teu mar
Santiago, lonxe do sol;
agoa da mañan anterga
trema no meu corazón.

Español
Llueve en Santiago
mi dulce amor
camelia blanca del aire
brilla entenebrado en el sol.
Llueve en Santiago
en la noche oscura
hierbas de plata y sueños
cubren la desierta luna.
Mira la luna en la calle
aullido de piedra y cristal.
Mira el viento desviado
sombra de tizna de tu mar.
Santiago, lejos de tu sol
agua de mar
remueve mi corazón.

English

It's raining in Santiago,
my sweet love.
A white camellia of air
shines darkly in the sun.
It's raining in Santiago
in the dark of night.
Grasses of silver and dreams
cover the the deserted moon.
See the rain in the street,
a moan of stone and glass;
see the lost wind,
shadow and ash of your sea.
Santiago, far from your sun,
water of full morning
trembles in my heart.