Myth of Arrival

"dream of the guitar" ZJC (2008)

One of the draw backs of the book I have put out is that it is not a bilingual edition. It is wholly in English. I am not as knowledgeable as I should be with copyright law but there is debate as to how much of Garcia Lorca's work is still protected under copyright law.

One interpretation of the law states that, "A translation is a derivative work, and only the copyright owner can authorize a translation that will be distributed. This envisions a work that is translated into another language and distributed in parts of the world where that language is spoken. Derivative works are infringing if they are not created with the permission of the copyright holder." However, prior to the passing of the United States 1976 Copyright Act, many "copyrighted literary works, movies and fictional characters are soon to pass into the public domain due to their 56 year maximum copyright terms."

In other words, the book of Federico's poetry I was translating from, published in Buenos Aires in 1945, has passed the 56 years of copyright protection (it's been 63 years since 1945) and so, theoretically, has passed into public domain. However, what makes this insanely complicated and the reason I left out the original texts was that the Garcia Lorca estate in Spain has been attempting to reestablish copyright ownership over some of Federico's poetry in American courts. The attempt was made in 2006 and so far (as far as I can tell) there has been no verdict. It is one reason I put out the book now, since it falls into this gray zone of legal doubt. But I want to be in good faith if suddenly the Garcia Lorca estate is successful and retains copyright protection. I suppose if I was getting my book published through a large publishing house then I could find out what I could do and not do; self-publishing comes with its own dangers, it seems.

I thought that one way of getting around the whole issue of using original texts or not, but keeping the book true to the idea of a bilingual text (what I really, really want) is to present two translations, one in English and one in a third language, say Italian or French. I am terrible in languages (even English) but I have friends who offer me suggestions once in a while and if I was successful I could offer something to the reading public no one (to the best of my knowledge) has done. Sure, you can go down to Barnes and Noble and buy an English translation of Federico's poetry but an English and Italian and Chinese (with one version in Eastern Armenian thrown in)? That would be worth $9.99 I think.

So here is three new experimental attempts at reworking Garcia Lorca's Adivinanza de la guitarra. One in English:

Riddle of the Guitar

At the round
crossroads,
6 maidens
dance.
3 of flesh,
3 of silver.
Dreams from yesterday pursue them,
but they are held fast by
a Polyphermus of gold.
Ai!, the guitar!

In French:

Devinette de la Guitare

Au carrefour
tout rond,
6 jeunes filles
dansent.
3 de chair
et 3 d’argent.
Les songes d’hier les cherchent,
mais elles sont
au bras
d’un Polyphème d’or.
Ai!, la guitare!

In Italian:

Indovinello della chitarra

Nel rotondo
crocicchio,
6 donzelle
ballano.
3 di carne
3 d'argento.
I sogni di un tempo le cercano,
ma le tiene avvinghiate
un Polifemo d'oro.
Ai!, la chitarra!

And in Portuguese:

Adivinanza de la guitarra

Na redonda
encruzilhada,
6 donzelas
bailam.
3 de carne
e 3 de prata.
Os sonhos de ontem procuram-nas
porém têm-nas abraçadas
um Polifemo de ouro.
Ai!, guitarra!

"federico: another age" ZJC (2008)

I have been working on a version of Federico Garcia Lorca's famous poem, Romance Sombambule, or, roughly translated, The Sleepwalker Ballad. Several friends have looked at it and said that it was a good attempt. I must give thanks to France Isabelle, Shirley, Mistletoe
and Elle! You all gave me fantastic advice and the poem wouldn't be ready for general consumption without all of you, my friends!

I don't do anything in void and if any of you are interested in better translations here are the two other versions I worked off from, my Chinese being very, very poor; one at douban.com, another at poetry-cn.com.

The nice thing about blogs is they are the "rough draft" you don't mind other people correcting you before you do anything as foolish as trying to publish a very bad mistake (haha).

民谣失眠

绿啊，我多么爱你这绿色。
绿的风。绿的枝桠。
大海上的船哪，
高山上的马。

影子缠在腰间，
她在阳台上做梦。
绿的肉，绿的头发，
冰冷的银的眼睛。
绿啊，我多么爱你这绿色。
在吉普赛的明月下
万物都凝视着她，
而她却看不见它们。

绿啊，我多么爱你这绿色。
霜花的繁星
和那打开黎明之路的
黑暗的鱼一起到来。
无花果用砂纸似的树枝
磨擦着风
山岭, 鬼祟的猫
起, 耸起激怒的。
但有谁来了？从哪儿？
她徘徊在阳台上，
绿的肌肤，绿的头发，
梦见苦的大海。

– 朋友，我想
用我的马换你的房子，
用我的马鞍换你的镜子，
把我的短刀换你的毛毯。
朋友，我从创伤卡布拉关口流血回来。
– 要是我办得到，小伙子，
这交易一准成功。
可是我房子已不是房子，
我也不再是我自己。
– 朋友, 我只希望
体面地死在自己金属床上，
如果可能，
还得有细荷兰被单。
你没有看见我
从胸口到喉咙的伤口？
– 你的白衬衫上
染了三百朵黑暗的玫瑰。
你的血还在腥臭地
沿着你腰带渗出。
可是我房子已不是房子，
我也不再是我自己。

– 至少让我爬上
这高高的阳台;
让我上来，让我
爬上那绿色阳台。
帮助我! 登上那绿色的
月亮的阳台，
那儿水在回响。

二个同志一起
登上高高的楼梯
留下一行泪痕，
留下一行血迹。
多铁皮小灯笼
在屋顶上闪烁
一千个玻璃个水晶的手鼓
刺伤了刚醒的黎明

绿啊，我多么爱你这绿色,
绿的风，绿的树枝。
二个同志伴登上了楼。
长风在品尝
苦胆薄荷和玉香草的
奇特味道。
– 朋友！她在哪，告诉我
她在哪儿你的苦姑娘？
– 她多少次等候你,
她多少次等候你，
冰冷的脸，黑色的头发，
在这绿色阳台上！

吉普赛姑娘漂在池心。
月光的冰柱
在水上扶住她。
绿的肌肤，绿的头发，
冰冷的银的眼睛。
夜亲密得
象一个小广场。
酒醉的宪警，
正在敲门。
绿啊，我多么爱你这绿色。
绿的风。绿的枝桠。
大海上的船哪，
高山上的马。

So the book is done. There were a few snaggles that occurred along the way. For one, due to the complexities of U.S. copyright law, it is unclear whether all of Federico's work is covered in the Copyright Term Extension Act or not. Technically, legally, are translations their own entity and the property of the translator or are they "variations" of the original poem and thus subject to copyright infringement if published? I don't know, yet. So I did what seemed to be the best choice. I removed all the original Spanish text from the book. Except for the titles the entire book is in English, which is a shame since I had been hoping to publish a bilingual edition. However, the glories of print on demand mean I can simply go into the text itself and replace the Spanish if the Garcia Lorca estate allows me to publish the originals as well. We shall see.

"the myth of sedna" ZJC (2006)

It is raining in Michigan. It is raining out on the lakes. My dear friend Sedna, with her rich songs of betrayal, death and resurrection, sent me a lament. I have been thinking of laments a lot of late. The Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, wrote a fine lament, foreshadowing his own death, in Casida Del Llanto. This here is my own translation:

Casida of the Lament

I have shut my balcony
for I do not want to hear the weeping,
and still, from behind grey walls
there is nothing else but weeping.
There are very few angels that sing,
there are very few dogs that bark,
and a thousand violins can fit in the palm of my hand.
But the weeping is a enormous dog
and the weeping is a enormous angel,
and the weeping is a enormous violin,
in the tears that muzzle the wind
nothing else is heard but the weeping.

Casida Del Llanto

He cerrado mi balcón
porque no quiero oír el llanto
pero por detrás de los grises muros
no se oye otra cosa que el llanto.
Hay muy pocos ángeles que canten,
hay muy pocos perros que ladren,
mil violines caben en la palma de mi mano.
Pero el llanto es un perro inmenso,
el llanto es un ángel inmenso,
el llanto es un violín inmenso,
las lágrimas amordazan al viento
y no se oye otra cosa que el llanto.

What I present to you are two songs. The pink mp3 player (at the top) is Sedna's original song. She is accompanied by the Serbian guitarist Davor Lazic. The orange mp3 player (at the bottom) is my contribution; for better or for worse. She had written asking if I could add "dark sax" to the mix, which is all echo and reverb. To my ear it sounded a bit odd to have a crystal clear guitar being drowned out by a muddy, echoing saxophone. But Senda requested, "why don't you try to add something dark in the far end of the listening scale … like the horn is still miles away, frantic but whispering … going crazy but hardly noticeable … I would like that … me and the guitar in one room and outside in the night there is this little light peeking over the horizon that is your horn … will the dawn once again bring relief or will it be the final Judgment day … Armagadon."

I am sorry Sedna, I failed with that request but I did create something else. Here it is. Enjoy.

"me and pablo neruda in corsica" (1964)

I have been working on a translation of Federico Garcia Lorca's El nino mudo, what I am loosely translating as The voiceless boy. On doing some research on Federico I discovered that in 1933 he met Pablo Neruda in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Later, in Madrid, 1934, he introduced Neruda with these words, "I say you are about to hear an authentic poet, one who has forged himself in a world that's not ours, that few people perceive. A poet closer to death than philosophy, to pain than intellect, to blood than ink. A poet filled with mysterious voices that luckily he himself doesn't know the meaning of. A true man who does know that the reed and the swallow are more permanent than the hard cheek on a statue … He stands up to the world, full of honest terror, and lacks two things so many false poets have lived with-hate and irony. When he's about to condemn and raises his sword, suddenly he finds himself with a wounded dove between his fingers." (copied from World Poetry)

Having said that, the poem I present here is all Federico's. It was written in a jaunty, care-free manner, what he once referred to as his ditty stage of writing.

The Little Voiceless Boy

The little boy searched for his voice.
(The emperor of all the crickets had stole it.)
In a water drop
the little boy searched for his voice.
I do not want your voice for speaking with;
I will make a ring out of it
so that you may wear my silence
on your little finger.
In a water drop
the little boy searched for his voice.
(The kidnapped voice, far away,
was donning cricket’s clothing.)

El Nino Mudo

El niño busca su voz.
(La tenía el rey de los grillos.)
En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.
No la quiero para hablar;
me haré con ella un anillo
que llevará mi silencio
en su dedo pequeñito.
En una gota de agua
buscaba su voz el niño.
(La voz cautiva, a lo lejos,
se ponía un traje de grillo.)

The song is more of a dirge than a celebration. Change is happening in my life and that is always painful on some levels. Plus, there is more than enough sorrow in the world to warrant one more sad song, I think Pablo wouldn't care for the noise I pass off as jazz but he would understand a lament in any form. What surprises me isn't that a photograph survived of my trip to Corsica but that I once let my hair grow that shaggy. What a mop!

Federico Garcia Lorca was executed in 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, by General Franco's Fascist guard. Shortly before he was shot he wrote a series poems based on a style of Arabic poetry called a casida. The website Andalus, based out of Tangier, Morocco, has this to say on the subject: The casida is a short, rhymed, fixed verse form in Arabic poetry. Lorca's casida's are free adaptations of the Arabic poetry written in honor of the Arabic-Grenadine poets of medieval Spain whom he knew only in translation. Translating this poem, however, posed a few problems; it is so surreal. I first discovered it in a book pf "translations," After Lorca, by the poet Jack Spicer, who had written a series of letters to Federico (who had agreed to write the introduction to the book from beyond the grave, or so claimed Jack). In the second letter he wrote, "When I translate one of your poems and I come across words I do not understand, I always guess at their meanings. I am inevitably right. A really perfect poem (no one yet has written one) could be perfectly translated by a person who did not know one word of the language it was written in. A really perfect poem has an infinitely small vocabulary." Indeed, I must agree, I know so little Spanish and yet Federioc's poetry sets me on fire every time I read one. Every time.

Casida of the Dark Doves

In the branches of the laurel
I saw two dark doves.
One was the sun,
the other the moon.
“Little neighbors,” I said to them,
“where is my grave?”
“In my tail,” said the sun.
“In my throat,” said the moon.
And I who was out walking
with the earth at my waist
saw two eagles of snow
and a naked girl.
One was the other
and the girl was neither.
“Little eagles,” I said to them,
“where is my grave?”
“In my tail,” said the sun.
“In my throat,” said the moon.
In the branches of the laurel
I saw two naked doves.
The one was the other
and both were neither.

Casida De Las Palomas Oscuras

Por las ramas del laurel
vi dos palomas oscuras.
La una era el sol,
la otra la luna.
«Vecinita», les dije,
«¿dónde está mi sepultura?»
«En mi cola», dijo el sol.
«En mi garganta», dijo la luna.
Y yo que estaba caminando
con la tierra por la cintura
vi dos águilas de nieve
y una muchacha desnuda.
La una era la otra
y la muchacha era ninguna.
«Aguilitas», les dije,
«¿dónde está mi sepultura?»
«En mi cola», dijo el sol.
«En mi garganta», dijo la luna.
Por las ramas del laurel
vi dos palomas desnudas.
La una era la otra
y las dos eran ninguna.

"I am the false dawn among the leaves"

In the second to last scene of the play, Federico turns what has been a fairly realistic play into magical realism. It is the dead of night out in a humid forest. Somewhere in it Leonardo and the Bride are stumbling forward while search parties out for blood seek them everywhere. Three clown-like Woodcutters emerge to talk about the ever changing events; they reveal that that Leonardo and the Bride will be caught soon if the Moon comes out. Soon the Moon arrives, a ghostly androgynous boy, and the Woodcutters flee the stage. The Moon delivers a soliloquy in which it laments its isolation and loneliness and proclaims its desire to drink blood in order to punish the world for ignoring it at night. It shines its light over the forest, illuminating the paths for the wedding hunters. Soon it is joined by a Beggarwoman, Death personified. As the Moon departs the Bridegroom, enters along with a Boy from the wedding party. The Boy is disturbed by the dark forest but the Bridegroom vows to kill Leonardo and reclaim his wife. They stumble upon the Beggarwoman who tells the Bridegroom that she has seen Leonardo and can lead him to where he wants to go. In another part of the forest, Leonardo and the Bride pause in their fleeing and discuss their future together. Both are filled with anguish and consumed by their out of control passion for each other. The Bride begs Leonardo to escape alone but he refuses. The couple hears footsteps approaching. The Bride and Leonardo exits and suddenly two screams can be heard in the darkness.

……………………………………………..

A forest at night. Everywhere are vast, humid tree trunks covered in moss. Two violins can be heard as three Woodcutters enter. [1]

Woodcutter 1: Are they found yet?

Woodcutter 2: No, not yet. They are searching everywhere.

Woodcutter 3: Then they'll find them.

Woodcutter 2: Hush …

Woodcutter 3: What?

Woodcutter 2: They are on the road, closing in … they seem to fly down every road.

Woodcutter 1: As soon as the moon rises they will find them.

Woodcutter 2: They should really leave them alone.

Woodcutter 1: The world is wide, there is room for all sorts of people.

Woodcutter 3: They will kill them.

Woodcutter 2: It is the right thing to run away, to make your own road.

Woodcutter 1: They were just fooling themselves; but hot blood can never be fooled.

Woodcutter 3: Blood!

Woodcutter 1: And when following the beat of your own blood … what else could they do?

Woodcutter 2: Blood that sees the sun is quickly sucked up by the earth.

Woodcutter 1: So what? It is better to die with the blood gushing from you than to live with it dead in your veins.

Woodcutter 3: Hush …

Woodcutter 1: What? What do you hear?

Woodcutter 3: The crickets, the frogs … and the terrible night waiting in ambush.

Woodcutter 1: But the horse?

Woodcutter 3: No, not the horse.

Woodcutter 1: Then they must be making love.

Woodcutter 2: His body belongs to her … and her body for him.

Woodcutter 3: They will find them and kill them.

Woodcutter 1: By then their blood will be mixed together and drained away, like two empty cups, two streams that run dry.

Woodcutter 2: The night is heavy. Perhaps the moon will not rise?

Woodcutter 3: With or without the moon, the bridegroom will find them. I saw him rush from the wedding like a furious star and his face was the color of ash. All the weight of his dead father and brother bent his shoulders down.

Woodcutter 1: His whole dead family laying murdered in the street.

Woodcutter 2: Murdered.

Woodcutter Do you think they will break the circle?

Woodcutter 2: Never. There are knives and guns for ten miles in every direction.

Woodcutter 3: But … he has a good horse.

Woodcutter 2: There are two of them now.

Woodcutter 1: Is this the tree?

Woodcutter 2: Forty branches high and we'll soon bring it crashing down.

Woodcutter 3: The moon is rising, we'll have to hurry.

[A blinding light begins to rise off left]

Woodcutter 1:
The moon is
rising over the forest.

Woodcutter 2:
Cover their blood
with white jasmine.

Woodcutter 1:
The lonely, lonely moon
moon with green leaves.

Woodcutter 2:
Silver all over the bride's face.

Woodcutter 3:
Evil, evil moon
leave the world to lovers
and darkness.

Woodcutter 1:
Sad, sad moon
leave the world to lovers
and darkness.

[They exit. Enter the Moon [2] bathed in blue light dressed as a young woodcutter with a skull-white face.]

Moon:
I am a round swan on the river,
I am the cathedral's eye,
I am the false dawn among the leaves
I am all these things and they won't escape!
Who can hide from me? Who sobs there
in the valley's thorn brush?
on the darkest side of the mountain?
The moon hangs a knife in the sky
a cold trap made of lead
that seeks the hot cry of blood.
Let me in! I come frozen and numb
through walls and windows!
Open your doors and breasts
so I can warm myself.
I freeze. I seek to warm my body
of ash and brooding
metals, searching for the crest of fire
in every street and mountain.
But instead
I ride the back of the dark night
through snow and water
as cold as the dead.
But this night
red, red blood shall stroke
my blue cheeks
in the stillness of reeds
over the wild feet of the wind.
Let there be no shadow to hide in.
Tonight I want
a beating heart split wide open
so that I might warm myself.
A human heart!
Over the mountains
of my breast it shall drain.
Let me in, yes, let me in.

[to the branches]

I will have no shadow. My rays
must go everywhere
filling the dark trees
with false dawn,
the cry of false dawn.
So that tonight
my cheeks will feel the touch
of sweet, hot blood
in the stillness of reeds
over the wild feet of the wind.
Ha! Who is that hiding there?
There is no escape for any of you.
I'll make the horse burn
with a fever of diamonds.

[The Moon disappears among the vast tree trunks and the stage falls into darkness. A Beggarwoman enters, dressed in rags of dark-green. She is bare-footed and her face is hidden behind the folds of her cloak. She does not appear as a character on the cast list]

Beggarwoman:
The moon is gone, they are closing in.
They will go no further. Here is dark music
of the river and forest that will drown out their cries.
It must be here, it must be soon. I am weary.
White coffins and white sheets from empty
bedrooms grow restless for the return
of heavy bodies with their throats all cut.
Not a single bird stirs,
the breeze sweeps away their screams
through the black trees to bury
them all in the black wet earth.

[impatient]

Moon! … where are you moon?

[The Moon enters and the blinding light returns]

Moon:
They are closing in.
Some by the river, some through the mountains.
I'll drown them all in my light. What do you need?

Beggarwoman:
Nothing.

Moon:
The wind is blowing hard now, see
how its edge sharpens.

Beggarwoman:
Just shine on their waistcoat buttons, just burn
them for me and their knives, predatory
fish, [3] will follow soon …

Moon:
But let them be slow in their death. I want
to feel their blood in my fingers
like delicate whispers. Already I can feel
the ashy dust of my valley wake
in expectation of that shivering fountain
in rich, red spurts.

Beggarwoman:
We will not let them get beyond the river!
Now I need silence!

Moon:
They are coming!

[The Moon leaves, stage falls again into darkness]

Beggarwoman: Quickly! Light … let there be light everywhere. Do you hear me? They cannot escape!

[The Bridegroom and Boy1 enter. The Beggarwoman sits down and covers herself with her cloak.]

Bridegroom: This way!

Boy1: You'll never find them.

Bridegroom [angrily]: I will find them.

Boy1: They must have gone another path.

Bridegroom: No! I heard the thunder of hooves a few moments ago.

Boy1: Perhaps it was another horse?

Bridegroom [dramatically]: Listen! In this whole wide world there is but one horse. Only one! Do you understand? If you are going to be with me, walk in silence.

Boy1: I only meant –

Bridegroom: I said silence! I know I'll find them here. There's a strength in my arm flowing up from my brother and father, from all my dead family. If I had to I will rip this tree up by its very roots! Let's get moving. I feel their teeth bite into my heart. Ai! I can hardly breathe!

Beggarwoman [moaning]: Ai!

Boy1: What was that?

Bridegroom: Go and see … hurry and work you way back to me.

Boy1: It is like hunting.

Bridegroom: A hunt? Yes, the most terrible hunt you can ever dream of.

[The Boy1 exits. The Bridegroom strides quickly left stage, stumbles over hidden Beggarwoman]

Beggarwoman: Ai!

Bridegroom: Who are you? Speak! What do you want?

Beggarwoman: I am so cold.

Bridegroom: Where are you traveling to?

Beggarwoman [in whiny voice]: Far away, far away from here.

Bridegroom: Where have you come from?

Beggarwoman: Far back, far back from here.

Bridegroom: Quick! Have you seen a man and woman on horseback?

Beggarwoman [slowly]: Wait … [looks up at Bridegroom] … beautiful young man. [stands] … but more beautiful still if he were asleep.

Bridegroom: I – answer me! … did you see them?

Beggarwoman: Not so fast … ah, such broad shoulders! So much easier to lie flat on them to have to walk on such small feet.

Bridegroom [shaking her]: I am asking you if you saw a man and woman? Did they come this way or not?

Beggarwoman [energetically]: Not yet … but they are coming out of the hills nows. Can't you hear them?

Bridegroom: No.

Beggarwoman: You do not know the way?

Bridegroom: Enough! I will find the way somehow.

Beggarwoman: I will take you then, I know this forest well.

Bridegroom: Really? Let us go. Which way?

Beggarwoman [dramatically]: Hurry! Come with me!

[They exit quickly. In the distance two violins can still be heard over the sound of the forest at night. the Woodcutters enter, carrying their axes over their shoulders. They move slowly between the vast tree trunks]

Woodcutter 1:
Death! Death is
rising up over the forest.

Woodcutter 2:
To stem the flow of blood!

Woodcutter 1:
Lonely, lonely death is
the voice of withered leaves.

Woodcutter 3:
Don't let their wedding
grow wild with flowers

Woodcutter 2:
Sad, sad death
let the branches grow green for love.

Woodcutter 1:
Evil, evil death
let the branches grow green for love.

[They continue talking as they exit. Leonardo and the Bride enter]

Leonardo:
Hush!

Bride:
I'll go my own way now.
Leave me. I want you to return.

Leonardo:
I said, be quiet.

Bride:
With your teeth,
with your hands, however you can,
break this metal chain you've placed
around my neck.
If you won't kill me,
as you would crush a newborn viper,
then put your knife in my hand …
these bridal hands that took his orange blossoms …
My head is full of fire
and grief and my tongue
runs wild, pierced
with shards of glass.

Leonardo:
Hush! There is no turning back.
They're hunting us, close by now.
I will never leave you.

Bride:
Then it will be pure force that I will go.

Leonardo:
By what force? Who was it that led me downstairs?

Bride:
I did.

Leonardo:
And who strapped the new bridle
around my horse's mane?

Bride:
I did. I did … I know.

Leonardo:
And whose hands buckled new spurs on my feet?

Bride:
My hands! … which are yours.
But if they could,
watching you now,
I would strangle and snap
the blue murmur in your veins.
I love you! I love you but leave me alone!
You know if I could kill you
I would right now, wrap you up
in a shroud of violet.
Ai! My head if full of fire and grief!

Leonardo:
My tongue runs wild, pierced
with shards of glass.
Since I want to forget
I put up a wall of stone
between our houses.
Yes, it is true! You remember, don't you?
But when I saw you pass by
I rubbed grit in my eyes.
So my horse
took me, blinded, to your door.
The silver pins of your wedding
turned my blood the darkest black
and soured my very flesh.
I grew thick with weeds.
I am not to blame …
… it is the vast earth.
It is the scent of your breasts.
It is your bound up hair.

Bride:
I must be going mad! I have yet to eat
your bread nor lay down with you
and yet there is not a single moment all day
that I do not long for you.
It's as if you drag me along with you … and I
just submit. You have turned my whole world
upside down and I follow you in the wind,
helplessly, like a single blade of grass.
I left behind a man who was my husband,
and his house and his family,
in the middle of our wedding.
You will be the one they'll punish.
No, I do not want that.
Leave me now. Go!
There is no one else who will help you.

Leonardo:
The birds are waking in the trees.
Dawn is upon us.
The night is slowly dying on
the sharp edge of rock.
Let us go from here, find a dark hole
where we can lie together
and not care about poisoned gossip
whispering all about us.

[Leonardo powerfully embraces the Bride]

Bride:
So … I will lie at your feet
and watch over you as you dream.
Naked. Lay naked on the earth.

[Dramatically]

I am like your dog. Because …
because that's what I am. I stare at you
and all I can do it burn. I burn.

Leonardo:
Yes, when fire consumes fire
a single flame
can destroy the whole forest.

[Leonardo pulls the Bride after him]

Bride:
And where will you try to take me now?

Leonardo:
Anywhere, somewhere
those following us can't go.
Somewhere I can look at you.

Bride [sarcastically]:
Oh yes! You will drag me from county fair to fair
in all my shame
so that everyone can stare at me
with my wedding sheets
fluttering in the wind behind me.

Leonardo:
If I thought like that
I would have left you by now.
But I go where you go.
Just like you. Just one more step. Come.
Splinters of the moon have cut deep
into our thighs, our hips.

[The whole forest feels heavy and intense. Leonardo and the Bride stare at each other, full of brutal sensuality]

Bride:
Did you hear that?

Leonardo:
They are upon us.

Bride:
We must hurry.
It's only just that I should die here
laying down beside this stream
with rose thorns in my hair
and only the withered leaves
to mourn this lost virgin
and woman.

Leonardo:
Hush! They are drawing nearer.

Bride:
Flee!

Leonardo:
Quiet. Don't let them hear us.
Go now. Go!

[The Bride hesitates uncertain]

Bride:
Both us of. Both of us together.

Leonardo [hugging her to his chest tightly]:
Both of us then.
If they try to separate us
they will have to kill me first.

Bride:
And me.

[They embrace passionately and exit. The Moon appears very slowly, bathing the stage in its blinding, blue light. The two violins strike up again. suddenly two long screams are heard off stage and the violins break off in an ugly squawk. With the second scream the Beggarwoman enters, her back to the audience. She opens her cloak like the wings of some ragged, giant bird. The Moon shudders and the curtains fall in the middle of dead silence]

Footnotes

1. Three Woodcutters. The Woodcutters are essentially clowns; their function for this play is to narrate the flight of the Bride and Leonardo as well as symbolizing the surreal nightworld of the second half of Blood Wedding.

2. The Moon. For Federico in drama (and much of his poetry) the Moon represents death; a lust for blood and apparent hunger. In that the Moon is the shadow of the hunters from the wedding party; out for blood lust and revenge the escaping lovers. Unlike Marge Piercy, who claimed the moon is always female, here it appears as a young woodcutter with a skull-white face; a gednerless creature that helps reinforce the idea that the order of the world has been turned upside down and dark forces of the human nature usually kept at check are out and at work.

3. Predatory fish. Again the reference to a fish looking like a knife, in this case a shark or something equally aggressive, is made. And like the popular belief of sharks being killing machines the use of the knife by those engaged in endless blood fueds fits nicely here.

bad blood, bad blood

In the second scene of act 2 we see everyone returning back to the Bride's house after the wedding. A celebration begins with music and dancing, but throughout it the Bride appears agitated and nervous and finally retires to her rooms. Suddenly Leonardo's Wife tells the Bridegroom that her husband disappeared, but the Bridegroom laughs saying that Leonardo simply went for a quick ride. The Bridegroom then finds his Mother wandering the party and the two discuss the importance of being traditional, abusive and controlling in a marriage. Soon it is discovered the Bride is not in her room; the Father orders the house searched, but Leonardo's Wife bursts into the room and announces that her husband and the Bride have run off together. The Father refuses to believe, but the Mother flies into a rage and orders everyone, including her son, out to hunt for the runaways, knowing full well that the only way this can end will be in bloodshed.

…………………………………………………

Outside the Bride's home. The whole atmosphere is somber with tones of grayish white and cold blue everywhere amid large cacti. In the background rise muddy hills in sharp relief, as if painted on tiles.

Maid [arranging glasses and trays on a table]:
The wheel was turning, turning
as the water was flowing, flowing
all on the wedding day
and through the dark branches
the moon was watching, watching
over the bride's white balcony.

[In loud voice]

Get those tablecloths pressed!

[In a voice full of pathos]

And the lovers were singing, singing
as the water was flowing, flowing
all on the wedding day
and on the white frost
the sun was shining, shining
pouring down like honey.

[In a loud voice]

Get the wine poured!

[In a voice thick with poetry]

Young maid,
young maid of earth and fire
watch how the water flows
and on this your wedding day
pick up your skirts
and under your husband's wing
dwell in his house forever.
For he is the dove
with a burning heart of flame
and the fields await with the murmur
of the spilling of your blood.
And the wheel was turning, turning
as the water was flowing, flowing.
All on your wedding day
young maid
make the water glow. [1]

Mother [entering]: At long last!

Father: Are we the first back?

Maid: No. Leonardo and his wife arrived a good while ago. He drove back like a man possessed. His wife was scared out of her wits. You'd have thought he was riding a horse rather than driving a cart.

Father: That man will come to a sticky end, that one … bad blood, bad blood.

Mother: What do you expect but bad blood? His whole family's rotten with it, ever since his grandfather started killing … he was the first of the murdering line, and they've all taken after him, with their cold smiles and little knives.

Father: Let us just forget it.

Maid: How can she just forget it?

Mother: Even the blood flowing in my veins aches. And when I look into their eyes … all I can see is the hand that killed my husband and son … You think I'm crazy, don't you? Well, if I am it's because I've locked too much away. But all the time I'm screaming deep inside. I know who should be punished. I know who really deserves to hide under a shroud. They just come and they take your dead away, and you've got to remain silent. It is then the gossip starts. [takes off shawl]

Father: But today of all days …

Mother: What else can I do when I see one of them? And today more than ever . . . from now on I'll be all alone in my house.

Father: Maybe not for long.

Mother: Yes, my grandchildren. It's the only thought which keeps me going.

[They sit down together.]

Father: I hope they have many. This land needs willing workers, cheap labor … so that they can fight against the weeds, the thistles and the rocks which seem to spring up from nowhere. It's got to be the men who own the land who punish it and tame it, who bring life from it. Yes, there needs to be lot of sons for all that.

Mother: And daughters. Boys come and go like the wind. They've get taught to carry knives and guns. But girls never even need to leave the house.

Father [jubilantly]: I'm sure they'll have many of each.

Mother: My son will do her well. He comes from good stock. His father would have had lots of children with me.

Father: I just wish they could get the whole business over in a single day. That way they could have two or three grown men straightaway.

Mother: It doesn't work that way. It's a long, painful process. That is why it's so terrible to see your own blood fall in the dust … a fountain of blood that spurts for just a long minute, which has taken countless years out of your life. When I got to my son, he was lying in the middle of the street. My hands were soaked in his blood and licked them clean with my tongue. Because it was my blood too! Can you understand that? And if I could I would take all that dust turned red with his blood and put it into a precious cup.

Father: It's a question of waiting now. My daughter is broad-hipped and your son is strong.

Mother: Yes, I know.

[They stand.]

Father: Get the food and drink ready!

Maid: They are ready.

Wife [entering]: I hope they'll both be very happy.

Mother: Thank you.

Leonardo: Are you planning a fiesta?

Father: Perhaps. Nobody can stay very long.

Maid: Here they come now!

[Small groups of Guests enter merrily. The Bride and Bridegroom enter arm in arm. Leonardo exits.]

Bridegroom: I have never seen such a wedding!

Bride [serious]: Never.

Father: It was splendid.

Mother: I see whole families here.

Bridegroom: People who hardly ever left their own doorway.

Mother: You're reaping all that your father had sowed.

Bridegroom: There are cousins of mine here that I've never even met before.

Mother: And the ones from the far coast …

Bridegroom [cheerfully]: They were a bit mistrustful of the horses.

[Crowd talks]

Mother [to the Bride]: What are you thinking?

Bride: I am not thinking of anything in particular.

Mother: So many wedding vows … they can weigh heavy.

[Guitars are heard off-stage]

Bride: Like lead.

Mother [powerfully]: But you mustn't let them! You should feel as light as a dove.

Bride: Will you stay here with us tonight?

Mother: I cannot. My house is empty.

Bride: No, you should stay.

Father [to the Mother]: Look at them dancing, all your people from the coast. Rising and falling like the waves of the sea. [2]

[Leonardo appears and sits down. His wife stands behind him, tense]

Mother: My husband's cousins. As strong as oak trees, they could keep dancing forever.

Father: They are a sight for my sore eyes here. [exits]

Bridegroom [to the Bride]: Did you like the orange blossoms?

Bride [startled]: Yes.

Bridegroom: They are real wax, you know. They will never die or go away. I would have liked to cover your whole dress with them.

Bride: There was no need for that.

[Leonardo exits silently from the right]

Girl 1: Shall we help you take the pins from off your veil?

Bride [to the Bridegroom]: I won't be long.

Wife: I hope you'll be happy with my cousin!

Bridegroom: I'm sure I will be.

Wife: Just the two of you here, building your house together in your own little world. If only we had somewhere to go like this.

Bridegroom: Why don't you buy some land? It's cheap over towards the mountains. It's better for raising children.

Wife: We do not have any money. And with the way things are going …

Bridegroom: But your husband is a hard worker.

Wife: Maybe, but he cannot make up his mind what he wants to do. He is always flitting from one job to another. He never seems at peace.

Maid: You're not eating! I'll go and get some wine-cakes for your mother, I know she adores them.

Bridegroom: Yes! Give her a several of dozen.

Wife No, no. Just a few.

Bridegroom No. This is our special day!

Wife [to the Maid]: Have you seen my Leonardo?

Maid: No, I have not.

Bridegroom: He must be off with the rest of party.

Wife: I'll go and look for him. [exits]

Maid: Isn't it all gorgeous?

Bridegroom: Why aren't you dancing?

Maid: I think because nobody has asked me.

[Two Girls cross upstage. During this whole scene there is a constant coming and going of Guests.]

Bridegroom [cheerfully]: It's because they don't know any better. Racy old ladies like you could teach a thing or two to any of these girls.

Maid: Ah! So you're starting to flatter me now, are you? You're your father's son all right. A man among men. When I was just a child I saw your grandfather's wedding. I remember well his esteem. It was like a whole mountain striding down the church aisle.

Bridegroom: I haven't quite got the same build.

Maid: But you've got the same gleam in your eye. Where's the child?

Bridegroom: Taking off her veil.

Maid: Ah! Listen now. I've cut some ham and left it, along with a couple of glasses of good wine, in the bottom part of the larder since neither of you will be doing much sleeping tonight. Just in case.

Bridegroom [smiling]: I do not eat at night.

Maid [leering: Maybe not you … but I'm sure your wife's appetite will have been [pause] whetted by midnight. [exits]

Boy 1 [entering]: Come on and have a drink with us.

Bridegroom: I'm waiting for … my wife.

Boy 2: You'll have her soon enough.

Boy 1: Haha! Yes, just before dawn, that's the best time.

Boy 2: Come on. Let's get a drink into you.

Bridegroom: All right.

[They leave; it is an atmosphere of great animation. The Bride appears, and two Girls run over to meet her]

Girl 1: Who did you give the first pin to? Her or me?

Bride: I'm really not sure …

Girl 1: You gave it to me! Here!

Girl 2: No, you gave it to me! In front of the altar!

Bride [tense, as though a great battle were raging inside her] I don't know.

Girl 1: It's just that I'd like you to …

Bride [interrupting her] Stop it! I've got enough to think about without …

Girl 2 [sulky]: Sorry.

[Leonardo crosses in the background]

Bride [catching sight of Leonardo]: I've got a lot on my mind.

Girl 1: We don't know anything about that …

Bride: You'll know when your time comes. It is a move that costs dearly …

Girl 1: Please don't be upset at us!

Bride: No, of course I am not. I'm sorry.

Girl 2 : Sorry for what? Anyway both pins mean you'll get married, don't they?

Bride: Yes. Both.

Girl 1: But one of us has to get married before the other.

Bride: And you're both in so much of a hurry?

Girl 2 [embarrassedly]: Well, yes. . .

Bride: But why?

Girl 1: Can't you guess? [hugs her friend and both exit.]

[The Bridegroom wanders on stage slowly. Silently embraces the Bride from behind.]

Bride [in fear]: Stop it!

Bridegroom: Did I frighten you?

Bride: Oh! It's you!

Bridegroom: Who else would it be? [pause] Your father or me.

Bride: I know.

Bridegroom: Except your father would have probably been gentler.

Bride [gloomily]: Probably.

Bridegroom: That's because he's old.

[Bridegroom embraces her tightly, roughly.]

Bride [sharply, struggling]: Not now.

Bridegroom: Why? [releases her]

Bride: Because … somebody might see.

[The Maid crosses upstage, purposely ignoring them.]

Bridegroom: And so what? We've got holy blessing now.

Bride: Maybe, but not now … Later on.

Bridegroom: What's wrong with you? You seem anxious.

Bride: Nothing is wrong. Do not go.

[Leonardo's Wife enters]

Wife: I am sorry, I don't mean to interrupt …

Bridegroom: What is it?

Wife: You haven't seen my husband, have you?

Bridegroom: No.

Wife: But you see, he doesn't seem to be anyplace … and his horse has gone too.

Bridegroom [cheerfully]: I am sure he's taken it out for a run.

[The Wife leaves apprehensively. The Maid enters]

Maid: You both must be happy for all the blessing you've got … all this big fuss just for you two, eh?

Bridegroom: Actually, I'm starting to get a bit sick of it all. I think she's feeling a bit tense.

Maid: What's the matter, my child?

Bride: My head feels like it is pounding.

Maid: In these parts of the world a bride must be stronger than that! [to the Bridegroom] You're the only one who can do anything with her now … she belongs to you. [exits quickly.]

Bridegroom [embracing her]: Let's go and join the dance. [kisses her]

Bride [in anguish]: No. No. I want to lie down for a while.

Bridegroom: Sure! I'll keep you company!

Bride: No! Not with everyone still here … what in God's name would they all say? Please, just give me five minutes.

Bridegroom: All right. But tonight when they've gone …

Bride [from the doorway]: By tonight I will be better.

Bridegroom: And that's what I want … [Bride exits]

[The Mother enters]

Mother: My son.

Bridegroom: Where have you been?

Mother: Just wandering through this noise. Are you happy?

Bridegroom: Yes.

Mother: And your bride?

Bridegroom: She's laying down for a rest. It's a bad day for brides!

Mother: Bad? It's the very best of days. It is the opening of a new world for me. It's the earth that is turning and the seeds that are growing. [3]

[The Maid enters and heads off to the Bride's room.]

Bridegroom: Stay here tonight.

Mother: I cannot. I must get home.

Bridegroom: All alone?

Mother: How can I ever be all alone? My head is always full of memories of my men and the battles they have fought.

Bridegroom: But all that fighting is now … a memory.

[The Maid reappears and hurries upstage.]

Mother: I will fight for as long as I live.

Bridegroom [sighing]: And I will respect your wishes.

Mother: Listen to me … with your wife always be affectionate, but if you think she's getting too distant or shy, then caress her just enough so that it hurts … a bruising hug or a love bite and then a tender kiss. Not enough to upset her, just enough so she'll know who's who, who gives the orders and who takes them. That's how your father taught me. And since you don't have him here now, it's up to me to teach you these things. [4]

Bridegroom [with raised eyebrows]: I'll always do whatever you tell me.

Father [entering]: Has anyone seen my daughter?

Bridegroom: She went to her room.

Girl 1: We want the bride and groom to come out ! We're all going to dance in a ring!

Boy 1 [to the bridegroom]: With you two in the middle.

Father [reappearing]: No, she's not there.

Bridegroom: No?

Father: She must have gone out to the balcony.

Bridegroom: I'll run up and look. [exits]

[Sound of singing and guitars offstage]

Girl 1: Oh! They've started without us. [exits]

Bridegroom [returning, puzzled]: She's not there.

Mother [troubled]: No?

Father: Where can she have got to ?

Maid [entering]: Has anyone seen the child …?

Mother [somberly]: No.

[The Bridegroom exits. Three Guests enter.]

Father [dramatically]: You're sure she's not out dancing?

Maid: No, she's not dancing.

Father [hysterically]: The place is packed with people! Go and look again!

Maid: I have looked.

Father [voice full of tragedy]: No? Where is she?

Bridegroom [enters]: No. There is no sign of her … anywhere.

Mother [to the Father]: What is going on here? Where is your daughter?

[Leonardo's Wife enters]

Wife: They have run away! Together! Leonardo and the bride! On his horse – I have just seen them – hugging tightly together and riding like the wind! [5]

Father [ashen]: God no! Help us, not my daughter!

Mother: Oh yes, yes! Yes, your daughter. Her mother's daughter and he's as bad as the rest of his blood. I warned you! But she's my son's wife now!

Bridegroom: Quick! Let's go after them. Somebody get me a horse.

Mother: Yes! Get a horse, quickly! Someone … anyone! I'll buy it with everything I have! With my tongue and eyes if I have to!

Voice [offstage]: There's one here!

[Bridegroom starts to exit with two Guests]

Mother [to the Bridegroom]: Go! Go! Oh [pause] but no … these people want blood. But what else can you do? You have to go! I will be with you.

Father: It can't have been her! No! She would have thrown herself down the well first.

[The Wedding Guests start to split into two groups]

Mother: If she'd any shame she would have drowned herself but there's not a drop of decency in her. And now she's my son's wife. You remember that! There are two families here. Your family and mine. We'll go after her … we'll help my son. And then we will wipe this dust off our feet. Because my son has got family! People who count! His cousins from the coast and all those that have come to this wedding! Let's go … some of you go down by the river! Others go over the wasteland and the rest of you go through the hills and forest! And I tell you all this … blood will flow before this day is over! Two families … you and yours … me and mine. Now! Let's go!

[Curtain]

Footnotes

1. Make the water glow. The maid is singing about her version of the wedding she has just witnessed. As she "retells" it she turns the religious ceremony into a sensual one. To her the marriage has a primeval purpose; as if the two young people are about to fulfill an ancient fertility rite. Knowingly or unknowingly in this scene the Mother and Father both echo the Maid's sentiments and so, in this aspect, they all represent a part of ancient, human sexuality that the Catholic Church incorporated long ago but could never suppress within itself.

2. Rising and falling like waves on the sea. The original Spanish that Father uses is "Bailes de allá de la orilla del mar;" which I crudely translated as "dancing from the edge of the sea." The image of the people at work in a fertility dance of sorts echoes the Maid's song about the bacchanal nature of this peasant wedding.

3. The earth that is turning and the seeds that are growing. This too is an echo of the Maid's song. In Spanish the Mother actually say, "Es la roturación de las tierras, la plantación de árboles nuevos;" "it's the rotation of the earth, the planting of new seeds."

4. It's up to me to teach you these things. The Mother is a jerk; this is a telling monologue on her part, however. This speech serves two functions; we see just how much influence she has over her son and also just how brutal traditions and customs of one generation get passed onto the next. If there is fatalism in this drama it is rooted in this character, the embodiment of representing authoritative and controlling power.

5. Riding like the wind! Federico describes the fleeing couple as, "como una exhalación;" "like an exhalation." I love that image, all that pent up passion finally release in one long exhalation of breathe.

let the bride awake

In the first scene of act 2 we see the Bride and Maid alone; the Maid is getting her mistress ready for the next day and the Bride is complaining about the heat, the Maid and her dead mother's fate. A knock on the door reveals Leonardo; he talks of his burning passion for the Bride and the foolish pride that kept him from marrying her when he had the chance. Clearly upset by his words, the Bride refuses to listen to him, fighting what she realizes are deep feelings she still has for her ex. Finally the Maid sends Leonardo away just as the wedding guests begin arriving. The Father, Mother, and Bridegroom arrive as well and the wedding party heads off to the church. Before the party leaves, however, the Bride begs the Bridegroom to stay close to her. Typical of their marriage, after a furious argument Leonardo and his Wife head off stage as well.

………………………

It is night on the veranda of the Bride's house. A front door can be seen off to one side. The Maid and Bride enter. The Bride wears only petticoats full of embroidery and a low-cut white bodice. Her legs and arms are bare.

Maid: I will finish combing your hair out.

Bride: One cannot be inside. Not in this heat.

Bride [sitting in a chair and looking at herself in a little, silver hand mirror]: My mother was from a place where there were many trees … and rich land.

Maid: And she was so cheerful!

Bride: But here she was consumed by it.

Maid: Fate. [1]

Bride: As all women are slowly consumed. The walls are throwing off so much heat — Ouch! Don't pull so hard!

Maid: I'm just trying to get this last wave right. I want it to fall over your forehead. How beautiful you are! Ai! [the Maid kisses the Bride passionately]

Bride [pulling herself always]: Keep combing my hair.

Maid [combing]: You are so lucky … you are going to hold a man in your arms … you are going to kiss him … and then you are going to feel his weight on top of you!

Bride: Shut up.

Maid: And the best part is when you wake up and feel him beside you … and he tickles your shoulders with his breath … it feels just like a nightingale's feather.

Bride [angrily]: Can't you shut up?

Maid: But my child! It's a wedding, and a wedding is that and nothing more. Is it nice things to eat? No. Is it bouquets of flowers? No. It's a shining bed and two people in it.

Bride: It's not right to talk about such things.

Maid: Perhaps … but it's the only true joy of getting married!

Bride: Or the only true bitterness.

Maid: I'm going to set the orange blossoms in your hair from here to here so that they will shine like a crown.

Bride [looking at herself again in the mirror]: Give them to me. [she works them around on her head for a few seconds and then slumps in defeat]

Maid: What is it?

Bride: Just leave me alone.

Maid: This is no time to be sad! Give me the orange blossoms. [The Bride throws them to the floor] Ai! Child! What sort of trouble are you asking for by throwing your wedding crown to the floor like that? Lift your head up! Don't you want to get married? Say so, then. You can still change your mind.

Bride: But this is a very big step.

Maid: One that has to be taken.

Bride: I've given my word.

Maid: Here. I'm going to put the crown back on you.

Bride [sitting up]: Hurry. They should be arriving soon.

Maid: They'll have been on the road for at least two hours already.

Bride: How far is it from here to the church?

Maid: Let us see … five leagues by the way of the river, twice that on the road. [begins to sing]
Let the bride wake
on the morning of her wedding.
And may all the rivers of the world
carry your crown home!

Bride [finally smiling]: Come on.

Maid [kisses her warmly on the lips and begins to dance and sing around her]:
Let her wake
under the green bouquet
of laurel in blossom.
Let her wake
by the trunk and the bough
of the sweet laurel in bloom!

[A loud knocking is heard]

Bride [standing up]: Go and open the door! It must be our first guests. [exits]

Maid [in surprise]: You?

Leonardo: Me. Good morning.

Maid: You are the first one to arrive!

Leonardo: Wasn't I invited?

Maid: Yes.

Leonardo: Then that's why I'm here.

Maid: And your wife?

Leonardo: I rode the horse … she's, er, coming along by cart.

Maid: Didn't you run across any other guests?

Leonardo: Yes. I passed several on the horse.

Maid: You'll kill that animal with so much riding.

Leonardo: When he dies [shrugs] he is dead. [pause]

Maid: Sit down. Nobody's up yet.

Leonardo: Not even the bride?

Maid: I'm going to help dress her right now.

Leonardo: The bride! She must be extremely happy!

Maid: And the baby?

Leonardo: Which one?

Maid: Your son.

Leonardo [stirring himself, as if waking from a dream]: Ah!

Maid: Are they bringing him too?

Leonardo: No. [pause and distant singing can be heard]

Singers:
Let the bride wake [2]
on the morning of her wedding.

Leonardo [echoing song]:
Let the bride wake
on the morning of her wedding.

Maid: That's the guests now … but it sounds like they are still some distance away.

Leonardo: So [rising] will the bride wear a big crown, eh? It shouldn't be too big. Something a bit smaller might suit her better. Did the bridegroom bring the orange blossom she's to wear … on her breast?

Bride [entering still with bare legs and petticoats]: He's brought them.

Maid [strongly]: Don't come out dressed like that.

Bride: What does it matter? [to Leonardo seriously] Why did you ask if he brought the orange blossoms? Do you have something in mind?

Leonardo: Not at all! What would I have in mind? You know me; you know there's nothing I can say. But tell me … what have I really been to you? Look back, look and refresh your memory … two oxen and a tumbledown shack were never enough to you, were they? Yes! That's what burns deep inside of me.

Bride: Why have you come?

Leonardo: To see your marriage.

Bride: Just as I saw yours!

Leonardo: What else could have I done? My hands were tied a long time ago, you know that. You can kill me, but you can't spit on me. Not for all the shiny money in the world!

Bride: That's not true!

Leonardo: I don't want to talk about this anymore because I'm a man of hot blood and I don't want all these hills to hear my shouting.

Bride: But mine will be louder.

Maid: This bickering can't go on. [to the Bride] You must not talk about the past! [she looks at the door in increasing fearfulness]

Bride: You are right. I shouldn't even speak to you. But it makes me wild with rage that you should come here to look at me and spy on my wedding and hint at crude things … asking about the orange blossoms. [angrily] Go! and wait for your wife outside.

Leonardo: Can't we even talk, you and I?

Maid: No! you can't talk!

Leonardo: Ah … after my wedding – and everyday since — I've thought night and day about who was at fault … and every time I think about it there is always someone new to blame … because there is always blame to go around!

Bride: [sarcastically] Oh yes! Oh yes! A man with a horse knows a lot of ways to wear down a poor girl stuck out in the desert. But I still have my pride and that's why I'm getting married. I shall lock myself up with my husband, whom I must love more than anything in this whole world.

Leonardo: Your pride won't be any help to you.

Bride: [crying out] Don't come near me!

Leonardo: Keeping quiet and burning inside is the worst punishment we can inflict on each other. What good did it do to me to have pride and never look at you again? leaving you to lie awake night after night? None at all! … it only poured fire all over me! Because you believe that time can heal and that walls can seal up and we both know it's not true! It's not true! When things are buried deep inside you, there's nobody that can ever pull them out!

Bride [trembling]: I can't listen to you! I can't listen to your voice … it's as if I drunk anisette and fell asleep on a quilt of roses. And I drown, it draws me under … I know that I'm suffocating, but … I still have to go on and on and on.

Maid [to Leonardo, grabbing his jacket]: You must go right now!

Leonardo [softly]: It's the last time I shall ever speak to her. Don't be afraid.

Bride: And I know I'm crazy and I know you are rotting out my heart and here I am quietly listening to you … watching you strut around my room.

Leonardo: I can't rest without telling you all these things. I got married … now it's your turn.

Maid [to Leonardo]: She is getting married!

Singers [from a far]:
Let the bride wake
on the morning of her wedding.

Bride [crying]: Let the bride wake? God! [she runs off]

Maid [furious]: Don't you come near her again!

Leonardo: Don't worry. [exits. the sun is rising outside]

Girl 1 [entering, singing]:
Let the bride wake
on the morning of her wedding!
Let the circle of life go around
her wedding crown today! [3]

Singers [outside]: The bride! The bride!

Maid [using false gaiety, singing]:
Let the bride wake
under the green bouquet
of laurel in blossom.
Let the bride wake
under the trunk and bough
of the sweet laurel in bloom!

Girl 2 [entering, singing]:
Let the bride wake
and slowly begin to move.
Dress her in a blouse of snow
with jasmine in her hair.

Maid [singing]:
The bride! The bride!
Before the moon sets!

Girl 1 [singing]:
The bride! The bride!
Before her love flies!

Boy 1 [entering, holding his hat in the air, singing]:
Let the bride wake!
Let he wedding fill the air!
The scent of roses!
The aroma of fresh bread!
Let life's kisses fall everywhere!

Singers [outside]: The bride! The bride!

Girl 2 [singing]:
The bride comes
with veil of silver behind!
The bridegroom twines her around his heart
with a flowering golden chain!

Maid [singing]:
Down in the lemon grove
the bride of love lies down.

Girl 3 [entering, singing]:
Down in the orange grove
the bridegroom strips her bare
and lays her down.

[Three Guests enter]

Boy 1 [singing]:
And on wedding day
the bride arrives
tamed like a dove.
Let the bells of dawn chime.
Let us chase night with love.

Guest [singing]:
The bride! The pale, pale bride!
A warm day awaits you
before your long night of love!

Girl 1 [singing]:
Come down to us now,
my little-dark eyed pet!
Bring your long veil of silk!
Bring your smile that shames the sun!

Guest [singing]:
Come down to us now
with your black, black hair!
Throw open your balcony
and let in the bright air!

Boy 1 [singing]:
Rise up, young bride! Rise up!
Let orange blossoms fill the sky!

Maid [singing]:
Let me weave a splendid tree for you!
Let me decorate it with purple ribbons
and songs of joy and love, my dear!

Singers [outside]: The bride! The bride!

Boy 1 [singing]:
Today is the day of your wedding!

Guest [singing]:
Today is the day of your wedding
when you'll be crowned with love!
Fairer than any flower!
Purer than any dove!

Father [entering, singing]:
Ah! Fair and pure indeed!
My one treasure! My one joy!
And I give her to the bridegroom today!

Girl 3 [singing]:
The bridegroom! The bridegroom!
The sun's golden flower!
The moon's silver dagger!

Maid: [singing]:
My little pet!
How happy you shall be today!

Boy2 [singing]:
The bride! The bride!

Maid [singing]:
And happier still I know you'll be
when night comes nearby
and all the light has gone away!

Girl 1 [singing]:
Let your wedding call you!
and call!
through the hot air!

Girl 2:
The Bride! The Bride!

Maid:
Let the bells ring
and ring again!

Boy 1:
Here she comes now.
She is coming.

Maid:
With the power of a bull
the wedding now begins!

[Enter the Bride dressed in a black dress cut in the style of early 1900's fashion; very tight around her hips and with a train of gauze and lace. On her head is the orange blossom crown. Offstage the sound of guitars can be heard. The Girls push forward to embrace the Bride]

Girl 3: What is that scent you are wearing in your hair?

Bride [laughing]: I don't use any scent.

Girl 3 [inspecting the dress]: Your dress is to die for!

Boy 1: A toast for the groom!

Bridegroom: Good health to everyone!

Girl 1 [placing a flower behind his ear]:
The bridegroom! The bridegroom!
The golden flower of the sun!

Girl 2:
The bridegroom! The bridegroom!
The silver knife of the moon!

[The Bridegroom walks to the Bride]

Bride: What made you wear those shoes?

Bridegroom: They are much brighter than my black ones.

Wife [entering and kissing the Bride]: I wish you both ever lasting joy.

[They talk excitedly]

Leonardo [entering as if having to perform some horrid obligation]:
This day you will be wed.
And this wedding wreath
we will place on your head.

Wife:
So that life from you will flow
like the sun to brighten all the lands
with its warmth.

Mother [to Father]: What are they doing here?

Father: They are family. Today we shall forgive everyone.

Mother: I will say nothing … but I will never forgive.

Bridegroom: The orange blossom has brought the sun to your hair.

Bride: Let's get to the church as soon as we can.

Bridegroom: Ha ha! You can't wait to get married?

Bride: No. All I want is to be your wife and to be alone with you and to shut everyone's voices out but yours.

Bridegroom: Just the two of us …

Bride: And to fix my eyes on yours. And for you to hold me so tight that even if my dead mother called me from the grave I could never break free …

Bridegroom: My arms are strong enough to hug and hold you for forty years and never let you go.

Bride [dramatically taking his arm]: Don't let me go … ever.

Father: We must get a move on it. Get the coaches and the carts ready … the sun is already high in the sky.

Mother: Go easy … let us not start this of all days badly.

[The large door at the back opens and everyone starts to exit]

Maid [crying]:
You leave your house
a girl dressed in white.
Your body is like a star
shining into the night.

Girl 1:
A fair girl dressed in white.
You fly from your house
like a star through the air. [exits]

Girl 1:
Here comes the bride!

Maid:
The breeze carries flowers
through the air.

Girl 3:
The beautiful bride!

Maid:
The breeze gently lifting
the lace from her hair.

[The wedding party exits. Rhythmical guitars and tambourines can be heard offstage. Leonardo and his Wife are left alone.]

Wife: Shall we go?

Leonardo: Where?

Wife: To the church, of course. But not by horse, I want you to come with me.

Leonardo: You mean in the cart?

Wife: Do you have any better suggestions?

Leonardo: I have no intention of climbing into any cart.

Wife: And I have no intention of going to a wedding without my husband. I cannot take very much more of this.

Leonardo: Then that makes two of us.

Wife: Why are you looking at me that way? Why? You look like your have knives in your eyes!

Leonardo: Let us just go.

Wife: I do not understand this … I think and I do not want to think. But one thing I have to know … it's over … and I have a child and another on its way. And you simply say “let us just go” … the exact same thing that happened to my mother is happening to me. I am not moving from here …

[Voices are heard off-stage]

Voices:
A fair girl dressed in white.
You fly from your house
like a star through the air.

Wife [weeping]:
You fly from your house
like a star through the air.
I flew so happily from mine as well … with the
whole of the world in my heart and mouth.

Leonardo [standing up]: Let us go.

Wife [in disbelief]: The two of us?

Leonardo: Yes. [pause] Come on. [they exit]

Voices:
A fair girl dressed in white.
You fly from your house
like a star through the air.

[Slow curtain]

Footnotes

1. Fate. Federico, in both his poetry and dramas, appears fascinated with the motif of fate, predestination, as a way to convey a terrible fatalism that seems to have followed him throughout his life. If the accounts that both his friends and critics alike retell of him can be believed this fatalism might have had more to do with bouts of manic depression (had psychotherapy been available at the time). The biographer and editor Howard T. Young (1964) recounts a story of Garcia Lorca's "state of constant delight in the world A friend recalls being roused late one night by a knock on the door which turned out to be [Federico], bubbling with excitement from having seen a shoe hanging from a tree. 'It's tremendous,' Garcia Lorca had urged … Such a state of natural wonder had its counterpart in fits of dark depression. 'Those who thought him as a gaily colored bird did not know him,' wrote the poet Vincente Aleixandre" (140).

2. Let the bride wake. At this point of the play Garcia Lorca has a chorus of voices (some off-stage, some on) arrive to represent the town folk and various relatives who are all witnessing the events that are about to unfold. In context of the Bride and her doubts about marriage the voices all serve to urge her down the conventional path.

3. Her wedding crown today! Compared to the lullaby sung by the Wife and Mother-in-law in act i, scene ii, again we have a seemingly innocent song filled with fatalism; the tension between describing the bounties of marriage mixed with the fleeting nature of life.

Work Cited

Young, Howard T. The victorious expression. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press. (1964)

the root of the scream

In the third and final scene in act one, the Mother and the Bridegroom go to the Bride's house, out in the middle of a barren wasteland, where they meet the Bride's Maid and her Father. The Father, old, tells the Mother of his dead wife and his desire to see his daughter marry. He talks about the dreams he had for his land had he had sons. The Bride enters and everyone seems to be content that the two get married as soon as possible. After the Father escorts the visitors out the Bride reveals she actually has doubts about marriage. The Maid is eager to see the gifts that the Bridegroom brought, but the Bride's rotten behavior spoils any fun she might have. As evening draws to night the Maid innocently asks the Bride if she was aware that Leonardo has been coming to their house at night on horse back to watch the Bride through open windows. This flusters her a great deal until they hear the sound of horse hooves and realize while all this had been going on Leonardo had been under their window, eavesdropping.

While I was doing research the other day at the local library I discovered a Spanish edition of the play edited with footnotes by Tomás Rodríguez, and while many of the notes appear in other English editions there were some new insights that helped me understand the play a little more. I translated the Spanish to my best ability, I am sure there are gross errors, but hopefully not enough to cause a riot.

………………………

Interior of the cave where the Bride lives.[1] Upstage lies a cross made out of numerous pink flowers. The archway doors have lace curtains tied with pink bows. On the white stone walls hang round fans, blue earthenware mugs and small mirrors. The Bridegroom and his Mother enter and sit down. The Mother is dressed all in black satin and wears an embroidered mantilla. The Bridegroom wears black velveteen along with great gold chain.

Maid: Please, come in … [she is very good natured yet full of misleading mildness] Do you want to sit down? They will be here shortly.

[She leaves. Mother and Bridegroom remain seated, rigid like statues. Long pause]

Mother: Did you wear your watch?

Bridegroom: Yes. [he removes it and looks at it]

Mother: We must return home in good time. These people live so far away!

Bridegroom: But the earth is good here.

Mother: Good; but much too lonely. Four hours to the nearest road and not a tree or a house on the way!

Bridegroom: It is a wasteland.

Mother: Your father would have covered all of this in trees.

Bridegroom: How? Without water?

Mother: He would have found it. For the three whole years while we were married he planted ten cherry trees. [lost in memory], the three walnuts up by the mill, a whole vineyard and a fiery plant called a Jupiter that has blood red flowers … but it died. [2] [pause]

Bridegroom: She must be getting dressed now.

[Enter the Father of the Bride. He is old, with brilliant white hair; his head is tipped. The Mother and the Bridegroom rise and shake his hand in silence.]

Father: Was it a long trip for you?

Mother: Four hours. [they all sit]

Father: You must have come by the longest route there is, then.

Mother: I am too old to walk by the high cliff down by the river.

Bridegroom: She gets dizzy. [pause]

Father: It was a good alfalfa harvest.

Bridegroom: Really? That is good.

Father: In my time, not even alfalfa would grow on this earth. You had to punish it. Cry over it. Suffer before it would provide us with anything.

Mother: But now it gives plenty, I see. Still, you should not complain. I did not come here to ask you for anything.

Father: [smiling] You are richer than I. Your vineyards are worth a fortune. Each sprig is a silver dollar. I am only sorry that our lands … you understand? … are so far apart. To me, I like everything together. There is only one thorn I have deep in my heart … and it is for the little garden lost in the middle of my property … they do not want to sell it to me for all the gold in the world.

Bridegroom: That always happens.

Father: If we could yoke twenty pairs of oxen to bring your vineyards here and put them all together on a hill — what joy! …

Mother: Why?

Father: For this very reason — what is mine is hers and what is yours is his — in order to see it together all, of course, because together is beautiful!

Bridegroom: And it would be less work.

Mother: When I die, you can sell our land and buy something here alongside yours.

Father: Sell? Sell! Bah! Buy, woman, buy everything. If I had had sons I would have bought this whole mountain, as far as the river. It is not good earth; but with arms and muscle one can make it good and since strangers do not pass this way nobody steals my fruit and I can sleep peacefully at night. [pause]

Mother: Do you know why I am here?

Father: Yes.

Mother: So?

Father: It seems fine to me. And they have talked it over.

Mother: My son is generous and productive.

Father: My daughter is as well.

Mother: My son is beautiful. He has never been with a woman. His honor is as pure as a sheet put out under the sun.[3]

Father: What can I say to you about my daughter? She makes breakfast [4] at three o'clock in the morning while the morning star is still awake. She never gossips; her temper is as smooth as wool. She embroiders all sorts of decorations and can cut a rope with her teeth.

Mother: May God bless your house.

Father: Yes, may God bless it.

[the Maid appears with two trays — one with wine glasses and other with sugar candy]

Mother: [to the Bridegroom] When do you want the wedding?

Bridegroom: Next Thursday.

Father: The very day she turns twenty-two.

Mother: Twenty-two years! That would be the age of my older son … if he had lived. And how he would have lived — warm and so very male as he was — if men had not invented the knives.

Father: We should not think about that.

Mother: My hand on my heart, every minute of the day.

Father: Thursday then? Is that correct?

Bridegroom: Yes, it is.

Father: Since the church is so far away you and me and the bride and groom will go in a carriage together. And the wedding guests will travel in their own and on their horses.

Mother: Yes. Good.

[The Maid enters]

Father: Tell my daughter that she can now come in. [to the Mother] I will rejoice if you like her.

[The Bride enters with her hands held modestly and her head bowed]

Mother: Come closer. Are you willing to do this?

Bride: Yes, señora.

Father: You do not have to be so solemn. After it is over she is going to be your mother.

Bride: But I am willing. When I said it, it was because I meant it.

Mother: Naturally. [She takes the Bride by the chin] Look at me now.

Father: She is the very image of my wife — in every way.

Mother: Is she? What a beautiful expression she has! Do you know what being married means, child?

Bride [serious]: I know what being married is.

Mother: One man, then some children and a thick wall to block out the entire world. [5]

Bridegroom: What else is there?

Mother: I just ask that you both live. Just that, live!

Bride: I will know know my duty.

Mother: Here are some small gifts for you.

Bride: Thank you.

Father: Shall we all have a little something?

Mother: No, nothing for me. [to the Bridegroom] Will you have something?

Bridegroom: Yes, I will. [Takes a sugar candy. The Bride takes one as well]

Father [to the Bridegroom]: Wine?

Mother: No, he never touches it.

Father: Ah, all the better! [pause, all are standing up]

Bridegroom [to the Bride]: Tomorrow I will return.

Bride: At what time?

Bridegroom: At five o'clock.

Bride: I will be waiting for you.

Bridegroom: When I leave from your side … I feel a great loneliness and get a knot in my throat as well.

Bride: When you are my husband you will no longer feel that way.

Bridegroom: Yes, I think so too.

Mother: We must go. The sun does not wait. [to the Father] Is everything favorable to you?

Father: Very favorable.

Mother [to the Maid]: Good bye.

Maid: May God walk with you.

[The Mother kisses the Bride and begins to leave in silence]

Mother [at the door, turning]: Good bye, my daughter.

[The Bride answers with a wave of the hand]

Father: I will see you out. [they all leave]

Maid: I am bursting to see these gifts!

Bride [bitterly]: Stop it!

Maid: Ai!, girl, show them to me!

Bride: I do not want to.

Maid: At least the stockings. They say they are all lace. Please!

Bride: I said no!

Maid: By God's heaven! All right. It seems as if you do not have any desire to get married.

Bride [biting her own hand with rage]: Ai! Ai! Ai!

Maid: Child! Girl! what has happened to you? Are you sorry to leave your life of playing a little queen? Do not think about such hateful things. What is your reasoning? None. Let's look at the gifts. [She takes them from box]

Bride [grabbing her by the wrists]: Let go!

Maid: Ai!, girl!

Bride: I said, let go!

Maid: You have more strength than a man.

Bride: What can't I be a man? I have done a man's work! How I wish I was a man!

Maid: Do not speak so!

Bride: I said shut up! Forget it. Let's talk about another subject.

[The light begins to fade. A long pause]

Maid: Did you hear a horse last night?

Bride: At what time?

Maid: Around three in the morning.

Bride: It must be a lost horse from the herd. [6]

Maid: No, it had a rider.

Bride: How do you know that?

Maid: Because I saw him. He stood under your window. It gave me a fright, I tell you.

Bride: It must have been that man I am about to marry. Sometimes he comes by at those hours.

Maid: No, it was not him.

Bride: So … did you see him?

Maid: Yes.

Bride: Who was it?

Maid: Leonardo.

Bride [loudly]: A lie! You lie! Why would he come here?

Maid: He was here.

Bride: Shut up! Damn your words!

[The noise of a horse galloping away is heard]

Maid [rushing to the window]: Look! Look — was it him?

Bride [pause]: Yes, it was.

[Fast curtains]

Footnotes

1. Interior of the cave. The idea that the Bride somehow lived in a cave, which is also described as a house, seemed a bit odd; however, Rodríguez (1987) noted, "Granada y Almería, cuyas viviendas son cuevas excavadas …" (58) which I translated loosely as in "Granada and Almeria, [there are] houses built into the sides of mountains and hills," which would explain the stage directions.

2. A fiery plant called a Jupiter Over an over again in this play Federico introduces to us images and symbols of combustible, furious love and the passionate natures of the characters. Here, a short lived, fiery plant named after the great Roman patriarch Jupiter symbolizes the brief marriage of the Mother with her dead husband.

3. His honor is as pure as a sheet. It is curious that the Mother is the first to bring up the fact that her son is a virgin. Rodríguez (1987) writes, "El tema de la honra, que preside la vida callada y. dura de los ambientes rurales, es subrayado por las palabras de la Madre" (61); the meaning more or less is that the subject of honor is of the up most importance in rural life, which is why the Mother stresses it so. If you consider it from that point of view, the actions of other characters as the drama increases is a little more understandable.

4. She makes breakfast. I took a little liberty here. The Spanish is "Hace las migas," "She makes migas;" which Rodríguez (1987) says is "Plato a base de pan desmenuzado y frito en aceite …" (ibid.); a dish of bread crumbled fried in olive oil. I can only assume the reason she would wake so early to make this is to feed the farmhands before they go out to the field, thus breakfast.

5. A thick wall to block out the entire world. With such strong gender roles — men working outside the house, women more or less prisoners inside — Federico can easily use the great stone wall as a metaphor for thwarted and frustrated love.

6. A lost horse from the herd. Again, this image of Leonardo as desire out of control, a force unchecked, is brought home in an image of the stray horse from the "common" herd.

Works Cited

Rodríguez, Tomás. Bodas de sangre / Federico García Lorca. Madrid: Ediciones Anaya. (1987)

[click] to get the big picture

In the second scene of Act 1 we meet Leonardo and his family. He has married the Bride's cousin (who is simply called Leonardo's Wife or just Wife by Federico; who gives everyone titles, not names in this play). The two of them live in a run-down hut along with Mother in Law and their young son, Boy. We find the two women singing a dire and somewhat sinister lullaby to the child, involving a tortured horse and deep, black water. It should be clear to everyone by the end of this act that Leonardo's and the Wife's marriage … is not a happy one. At some point during all this bickering a Girl appears to tell the Mother in Law of all the nice things the Bridegroom is buying for the Bride. Upon hearing this Leonardo, who is never calm, flies into an even bigger rage, scaring everyone and the Girl flees the house weeping.

…………………………………………….

Morning. a rose-colored room with wreaths of flowers and gleaming copper pots and pans. In the center, a table with a tablecloth. Leonardo's Mother-in-Law cradles a Boy in her arms, rocking. Leonardo's Wife is mending stockings.

Mother-in-law:
Hush, baby, hush.
Dream of a great black stallion
that would not drink the water.
Wouldn't drink the water.
The water was black
under the branches.
Under the branches
the water was black.
Under the bridge
it stopped and sang.
Who can say, my baby,
of the water's pain?
Of the water's pain
who can say?
As it draws its long tail
through deep green room …

Wife [quietly singing]:
Go to sleep, my carnation,
for the horse will not want to drink deep.

Mother-in-law:
Sleep, sleep my little rose,
for the horse now starts to weep.
The hooves are all red with blood, [1]
and all its horsey hair frozen.
And deep within its eyes
rests a broken silver dagger.
Down they went to the river's edge.
Ai!, how they went down!
And its blood ran faster
than the running water.

Mother-in-law:
Sleep, sleep my little rose,
for the horse now starts to weep.

Wife:
It will not touch
the river's edge,
it will not, no it will not
though its mouth is hot
with silver flies.
O to the hard mountains
it can only whinny
with the dead river
stuck in its throat.
Ai!, the giant horse
that did not want the water!
Ai!, the pain of the snow, [2]
for a horse made of the dawn!

Mother-in-law:
Keep away now! Stop it,
and close the windows.
Use branches of dreams
and dream of branches.

Wife:
Horse, my boy
has his own pillow.

Mother-in-law:
Dream, softly dream.

Wife:
Now my boy sleeps.

Mother-in-law:
His cradle is made of steel.

Wife:
His blanket is of fine Holland linen.

Mother-in-law:
Hush, baby, hush.

Wife:
Ai!, the giant horse
that did not want the water!

Mother-in-law:
Keep away now! Do not enter!
Run to the mountains
down through the gray valleys
to your mare's side.

Wife [looking at sleeping Boy]:
Now my boy sleeps.

Mother-in-law:
Now my baby is quiet.

Wife [softly]:
Sleep, my carnation, of
the giant horse that
did not want the water.

Mother-in-law [rising softly]:
Sleep, sleep my little rose,
for the horse now starts to weep.

[Mother-in-law exits carrying the Boy. Pause. Leonardo enters]

Leonardo: Where's the boy?

Wife: He fell asleep.

Leonardo: Yesterday he was not well. He cried all night.

Wife [happily]: And today he is fresh like a dahlia. And you? Were you at the blacksmith today?

Leonardo: I've just come from there. Can you believe it? For more than two months he has been putting new horseshoes on our horse and they are always falling off. As far as I can tell he keep tripping on the stones. [3]

Wife: Could it not be that you ride him a bit too much?

Leonardo: No … what would I being doing out there, in that wasteland?

Wife: Yesterday the neighbors told me they had seen you out on the other side of the wastelands.

Leonardo: Who told you that?

Wife: The women who picks the capers. It certainly did surprise me … was it you?

Leonardo: No … I say again, what would I being doing out there, in that wasteland?

Wife: That is what I said. But they say the horse was burning with sweat.

Leonardo: Did you see him?

Wife: No. But Mother did.

Leonardo: Is she with the boy?

Wife: Yes. Do you want some lemonade?[4]

Leonardo: Only with icy water.

Wife: Why did you not come home to eat …?

Leonardo: I was busy with the wheat buyers. They always take their time.

Wife [very tenderly as she makes the lemonade]: And did they give you a good price?

Leonardo: It was … fair.

Wife: I am hoping for a new dress and the boy needs a new cap with ribbons.

Leonardo [rising]: I am going to go see him.

Wife: Please, try not to wake him.

Mother-in-law [entering]: Who is trying to kill our horse? He is worn down, worn out, lathered in sweat. Look at those crazy, pop-eyes. It looks as if someone has just arrived from the ends of the earth. Who …?

Leonardo [bitterly]: Me.

Mother-in-law: O! pardon me; of course, it is yours to do as you like.

Wife [timidly]: He was down with the the wheat buyers.

Mother-in-law: He can go down to hell, for all I care. [she pauses, sits]

Wife: Your drink, is it cold enough?

Leonardo: Yes.

Wife: Have you heard? My cousin is getting engaged!

Leonardo: When?

Wife: Tomorrow. The wedding will be within a month. I hope that they will come to invite to us.

Leonardo [seriously]: I do not know.

Mother-in-law: I hear that his mother was not very happy with the arrangement.

Leonardo: And … perhaps she is right. She is a girl that needs constant watching.

Wife: I do not like that you think bad things about a good girl.

Mother-in-law [with malice]: Bah! when he says that it is because he knows all about it. Don't you remember that she was his fiancee three years?

Leonardo: But I left her. [to Wife] What? Are you going to cry now? Stop it! [He roughly pulls her hands from her face] Come! we are going to see the boy.

[They exit]

[A Girl appears in the doorway. She runs in cheerfully]

Girl: Señora.

Mother-in-law: What is it?

Girl: The young man arrived at the store and bought all the best things we had.

Mother-in-law: Was he alone?

Girl: No, he came with his mother. Serious, tall. [she strikes a pose to imitate her] But very proud!

Mother-in-law: They have money.

Girl: And they bought some open-work stockings! … Ai!, what stockings! The sort you can only dream about! Look: a swallow here [she indicates the ankle], and a boat here [she indicates the thigh] and a rose here. [she indicates her hip] …

Mother-in-law: Child!

Girl: A rose with seeds and stem! Ai! Everything in silk!

Mother-in-law: Two rich families are being brought together. [5]

[Leonardo and Wife enter]

Girl: I came to tell you what they are buying.

Leonardo [harshly]: We don't care.

Wife: Leave her alone.

Mother-in-law: Leonardo, it is not important.

Girl: Please … excuse me [she exits, weeping]

Mother-in-law: Why is it a necessity for you to act badly with everyone?

Leonardo: I did not ask your opinion. [he sits]

Mother-in-law: Very well. [she slows sits down, pause]

Wife [to Leonardo]: What has happened to you? What ideas do you have going on the inside of your head? Do not leave me like this, without knowing what is going on …

Leonardo: Stop this.

Wife: No, I will not. Look me in the eye and me and tell me.

Leonardo: Leave me alone. [he rises]

Wife: Where are you going?

Leonardo [bitterly]: Why won't you shut up?

Mother-in-law [grimly, to Wife]: Shhhh! [6] [Leonardo exits] The baby!

[She exits and returns with Boy in her arms. The Wife remains standing, immovable]

Mother-in-law:
The hooves are all red with blood,
and all its horsey hair frozen.
And deep within its eyes
rests a broken silver dagger.
Down they went to the river's edge.
Ai!, how they went down!
And its blood ran faster
than the running water.

Wife [turning slowly around as if dreaming]:
Go to sleep, my carnation,
for the horse will not want to drink deep.

Mother-in-law:
Sleep, sleep my little rose,
for the horse now starts to weep.

Wife:
Hush, baby, hush.

Mother-in-law:
Sleep, my carnation, of
the giant horse that
did not want the water.

Wife [dramatically]:
Keep away now! Do not enter!
Run to the mountains
Ai!, the pain of the snow,
for a horse made of the dawn!

Mother-in-law [weeping]:
Now my boy sleeps …

Wife [weeping, slowly moving near]:
Now my baby is quiet …
Sleep, my carnation, of
the giant horse that
did not want the water.

Woman [crying and leaning on the table]:
Sleep, sleep my little rose,
for the horse now starts to weep.

[Curtain]

Footnotes

1. The hooves are all red with blood Federico's use of the lullaby is curious; Johnston (1989) is recorded as saying this particular tune had been one that had haunted the poet for many years. Havard (1990) quotes Garcia Lorca himself as saying: "I have tried to collect lullabies from all parts of Spain … I found that Spain uses its very saddest melodies and most melancholy texts to darken the first sleep of her children …" (127). It is a good tool to foreshadow things to come.

2. The pain of the snow Snow carries several meanings here. Snow freezes, thus cooling down both desire and passion. People are referred to as “frigid,” in the manner Leonardo attempts to kill his emotions and shows contempt for his own wife. Snow is also a symbol of virginity, so later in the play the Bride is referred to as wearing garments of shining like snow. References to snow appear throughout the drama, usually, though, in connection with death in one form or another.

3. Tripping on stones. Notice how the image of the bleeding horse in the lullaby comes to life in the form of Leonardo's horse? Blood Wedding is not a play set in the cognitive world; we are the world of archetypes now. The critic Melchor Fernandez Almagro wrote of the lullaby and the play itself that it had nothing to do with (Gibson, 1989) "the Andalusians of the east or west, the mountains or the coast … but with the Andalusians in their deepest historical and psychological projection … Arabs, Romans, Greeks, the offspring of God knows what classical myths: the Sun and the Moon" and that the images we find in the drama are "the most expressive cypher or emblem of [Federico's poetic] world" (348).

4. Do you want some lemonade? Here is a case where I am not translating word for word what Federico wrote down. The line is Spanish is, "¿Quieres un refresco de limón?" which loosely rendered is, "Would you like a lemon refreshment?" I translated that as lemonade, though I have read in other translations as simply "lemon water." The point being that Leonardo is drinking something very bitter and very cold — the state of his life. Consider this when, later in the play, the Bride talks about the bitterness of her wedding.

5. Two rich families are being brought together Here is another example of a line that I can't really find a good English equivalent. The Spanish is, "Se van a juntar dos buenos capitales," literally, "they are going off to join two good capitals [money]." This is important because the community in which this is happening sees the up and coming wedding less as a marriage of love but a business merger between rich bloodlines.

6. Shhh! I do not think the Mother in Law is siding on Leonardo's side here. The actual word she uses is "¡Cállate!" and I use the word "grimly" since she seems to be hushing more the room (or at least attempting to) in a culture where the husband expected to have the last word. In any event, "shhh" works much better than a hard "shut up!"

Work Cited

Gibson, Ian. Federico Garcia Lorca: a life. New York: Pantheon Books. (1989)

Johnston, David. Blood Wedding. London: Hodder & Stoughton. (1989)

"the bride" by ZJC

Around January of this year I began to work on translating Federico Garcia Lorca's poem-play, Bodas de sangre or better known in the English speaking world as Blood Wedding. I think I got through maybe two scenes in the first act and then, like a lot of my projects (short attention spans are both a blessing and a curse) went off and did something else for a while. It is now July and I am finishing up putting the last touches to the whole play. I went back and edited a whole lot of what I had, since it was wrong; thus the [remix]. I hope the second time around pleases more than the first.

It is the most gypsy-ish drama I have ever encountered and so it fits nicely with Garcia Lorca's poetry, such as The Gypsy Ballads and his essay on the duende. The story was based on a true account; Federico had read a newspaper article that talked about a crime which had occurred in the his Andalusian part of Spain. Hardly anyone has a name in this play, instead they have archetypal names, The Bride, The Mother, The Bridegroom, etc. The plot is rather straight forward, at least in the first act:

At the beginning of the play, the Mother speaks with her son, the Bridegroom; he wishes to marry the Bride, a woman who lives near the town and asks for permission and blessings from his mother. The Mother, although she is still filled with bitterness over the death of her husband and elder son many years ago, grants the Bridegroom her blessing, and expresses her desire to have grandchildren. The Bridegroom then departs to go the vineyards. Soon a Neighbor arrives to chat with the Mother, and reveals to her that the Bride was previously engaged to a man named Leonardo Felix, a relative of the men who killed the Mother's husband and son. The Mother, who still hates the Felix family, is furious, but decides to visit the Bride before bringing the matter up with her son.

I had wanted to present the English translation along with the Spanish original; however, due to the complications and limitations of space on the computer screen, the two works side by side were almost impossible to read and gave me a headache. So I nixed the original and present only the translation of mine. A very good version of the original can be found here, if you are curious. I won't ruin the play for anyone by giving away the ending. Tomorrow I will published act i, scene ii and so on. If nothing else, it will get me to wrap up working on the play. Hurrah!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

House of the Bridegroom and Mother. Kitchen painted yellow.

Bridegroom [entering]: Mother?

Mother: Yes?

Bridegroom: I'm going now.

Mother: Where?

Bridegroom: To the vineyard. [starts to exit]

Mother: Wait.

Bridegroom: What is it?

Mother: Your breakfast, my son!

Bridegroom: Do not fuss about that. I will eat grapes. Give me the knife.

Mother: The knife? What for?

Bridegroom [laughing]: To cut the grapes with.

Mother [between her teeth, muttering and looking]: The knife! The knife!… Damn the knife, damn all knives and the devil who invented them.

Bridegroom: Enough! Just forget it.

Mother: And all the rifles and the pistols and the smallest of all knives — and the hoes and the pitchforks [1] as well!

Bridegroom: All right.

Mother: Everything that can cut and slice into the body of a man. A beautiful man, his mouth like a flower, a man who goes out to the vineyards or to his own olive orchard … because they are his, because he inherited them …

Bridegroom [looking down]: Mother, no more.

Mother: And then the man does not return. Or if he returns it's only to lay him out and cover him with a palm leaf and rub rock salt on his body so it won't bloat in the heat. I do not know how you dare to carry a knife on your body! — or how I let this serpent rest in my cupboard [she takes a knife from a kitchen drawer].

Bridegroom: Are you finished?

Mother: No! If I lived to be one hundred I would not speak of anything else. First, your father; who smelled to me of carnations and I enjoyed him for only three little years. Then, your brother. Oh, is it right? — how can it be? — that a small thing like a pistol or a knife can end a man? — a man who is a bull? [2] No! I will never shut up. The months die and the despair stings me in my eyes — to the roots of my hair.

Bridegroom [harshly]: Have you finished?

Mother: No. I am not going to finish! Can someone bring back your father and your brother to me? And then there is the prison. What is a prison? They eat there, smoke there, they play their music there. There! My dead ones, covered in long grass, silent, turning to dust. My two men who were two geraniums … and their murderers, in prison — carefree with all that fresh air, gazing at the far mountains…

Bridegroom: Are you asking me to kill them?

Mother: No… If I speak about this, it is just because… How can I not speak? watching you go through that door? It is just that … I do not want you to take that knife. It is just that…. just that I do not want you to go to the fields.

Bridegroom [laughing]: Enough!

Mother: How I so wish that you were born a girl! You would not be going away to the arroyos then and we would stay and embroider linens and small woolen dogs.

Bridegroom [take her by the arm and laughs]: Mother, and what if I take you now down to the vineyards with me?

Mother: What would an old woman do in the vineyards? Were you going to lay me down under the vine-roots?

Bridegroom [raising her up in his arms]: O, what an old woman; you old, old woman; you old, old, cranky woman! [3]

Mother: Your father, yes, he used to take me. That is the way of good blood and he had the best of blood. Your grandfather left a son on every street corner where he went. That I like; the men to be men, the grapes to be grapes, the wheat to be wheat. [4]

Bridegroom: And of my life, mother?

Mother: Your life? What?

Bridegroom: Do I need to say it again?

Mother [seriously]: Ai! [5]

Bridegroom: But you still think it is a bad idea?

Mother: No.

Bridegroom: So, then…?

Mother: I do not know. But suddenly, like this, it always surprises me. I know that the girl is good. Truth be told she is. Modest. A hard worker. She kneads her father's bread and she sews her own skirts … and yet I feel, still … when I say her name … it is as if someone hit me in the forehead with a rock.

Bridegroom: Foolishness.

Mother: It is more than foolishness. I will be left all alone. All alone! You are the last man in my life and it breaks my heart to see you leave.

Bridegroom: But you will come with us, of course?

Mother: No! I cannot leave your father and your brother here all alone. I must go to their graves every morning … and if I go away, and if one of those Felixes dies? One of that family of murderers … they might be buried alongside ours. And that? — never! No, not that! Because with the nails of my own hands I will unearth them and crush their corpses against the mud wall.

Bridegroom [hard]: That old threat again!

Mother [slowing down]: Forgive me. [pause