I found this while surfing on the wings of Serendipity last night.
I put it here for you to enjoy too, as this is just so beautiful, and the translation work is pretty good, (at least it is as far as poetry goes) and possibly useful to the teachers of multimadrid.
MI PRIMERA INSPIRACIÓN
¿Porqué exhalan a porfía
del cáliz dulces olores
las embalsamadas flores
en este festivo dia?
Y ¿porqué, en la selva amena,
se oye dulce melodía
que asemeja la armonía
de la arpada filomena?
¿Porqué en la mullida grama
las aves, al son del viento,
exhalan meloso acento
y saltan de rama en rama?
Y la fuente cristalina,
formando dulce murmullo,
del cefiro al suave arrullo
entre las flores camina?
Es que hoy celebran tu día
¡oh, mi Madre cariñosa!
con su perfume la rosa
y el ave con su armonía.
Y la fuente rumorosa,
en este día feliz,
con su murmullo te dice
¡que vivas siempre gozosa!
Y, de esa fuente al rumor,
oye la primera nota,
que ahora de mi laud brota
al impulso de mi amor!
MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY
Why do the fragrant flowers
Exhale their sweet bouquet
Upon this festive day
From out their chaliced bowers?
And why in sylvan vales
Are heard sweet melodies
So like the harmonies
Of singing nightingales?
And why in grasses deep
Are mellow carols heard
As every eager bird
From stem to stem doth leap?
And where the fountain flows,
What lovely murmur sighs
Like muffled lullabies
To every breeze that blows?
Dear Mother, in your praise --
Your natal day to greet!
The rose exhales her sweet,
The birds our forth their lays.
The fountain's gurgling purr
This merry hearted day
Is sputtering to say
"Long life and joy to her!"
And now with my guitar
I join the fountain singing;
O hear this first note winging
To tell how dear you are.
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UN RECUERDO A MI PUEBLO
(Kalamba -- La Laguna)
Cuando recuerdo los días,
Que vieron mí edad primera
Junto á la verde ribera
De un lago murmurador;
Cuando recuerdo el susurro
De Favonio que mi frente
Recreaba dulcemente
Con delicioso frescor;
Cuando miro en blanco lirio
Henchir con impetus el viento
Y el tempestuoso elemento
Manso en la arena dormir;
Cuando aspiro de las flores
Grata esencia embriagador
Que exhalan cuando la aurora
Nos comienza á sonreir;
Recuerdo, recuerdo triste
Tu faz, infancia preciosa,
Que una madre cariñosa
¡Ay! Consiguió embellecer.
Recuerdo un pueblo sencillo,
Mi contento, dicha y cuna,
Junto á la fresca laguna
Asiento de mi querer.
¡Oh! Si mi insegura planta
Holló tus bosques sombríos,
Y en las costas de tu ríos
Hallé grata diversion;
Oré en tu rústico templo
De niño, con fe sencilla
Y tu brisa sin mancilla
Alegró mi corazón.
Ví al Creador en la grandeza
De tus selvas seculares;
En tu seno los pesares
Nunca llegué á conocer;
Mientras tu azulado cielo
Miré, ni amor ni ternura
Me faltó, que en la Natura
Se cifraba mi placer.
Niñez tierna, pueblo hermoso,
Rica fuente de alegrías,
De armoniosas melodias
Que ahuyentan el pesar!
¡Volved mis horas suaves,
Volved, cual vuelven las aves
De las flores al brotar!
Mas¡ ay! Adiós! Vele eterno
Por tu paz, dicha y reposo,
Genio del bien, que bondoso
Sus dones da con amor;
Por tí mis fervientes votos,
Por tí mi constante anhelo
De aprender, y¡ plague al cielo
Conservase tu candor!
IN MEMORY OF MY VILLAGE
When early childhood's happy days
In memory I see once more
Along the lovely verdant shore
That meets a gently murmuring sea;
When I recall the whisper soft
Of zephyrs dancing on my brow
With cooling sweetness, even now
New luscious life is born in me.
When I behold the lily white
That sways to do the wind's command,
While gently sleeping on the sand
The stormy water rests awhile;
When from the flowers there softly breathes
A bouquet ravishingly sweet,
Out-poured the newborn dawn to meet,
As on us she begins to smile.
With sadness I recall. . . . recall
Thy face, in precious infancy,
Oh mother, friend most dear to me,
Who gave to life a wondrous charm.
I yet recall a village plain,
My joy, my family, my boon,
Beside the freshly cool lagoon, --
The spot for which my heart beats warm.
Ah, yes! My footsteps insecure
In your dark forests deeply sank;
And there by every river's bank I found refreshment and delight;
Within that rustic temple prayed
With childhood's simple faith unfeigned
While cooling breezes, pure unstained,
Would send my heart on rapturous flight.
I saw the Maker in the grandeur
Of your ancient hoary wood,
Ah, never in your refuge could
A mortal by regret be smitten;
And while upon your sky of blue
I gazed, no love nor tenderness
Could fail, for here on nature's dress
My happiness itself was written.
Ah, tender childhood, lovely town,
Rich fount of my felicities,
Of those harmonious melodies
Which put to flight all dismal hours,
Come back to my heart once more!
Come back gentle hours, I yearn!
Come back as the birds return,
At the budding of the flowers!
Alas, farewell! Eternal vigil I keep
For Thy peace, Thy bliss, and tranquillity,
O Genius of good, so kind!
Give me these gifts, with charity.
To thee are my fervent vows, --
To Thee I cease not to sigh
These to learn, and I call to the sky
To have thy sincerity.
********************************************************************
Muchas gracias y aprecio más grande al Dr. Jose Rizal.
Many thanks and greatest appreciation to Dr. Jose Rizal.
Not just a Poet, but a great Linguist, and a man of great knowledge, but one of the Philippines greatest national heroes.
Dr. José Rizal
When only eight years of age, the records agree, he wrote the following poem in Tagalog. It is the only Tagalog poem we now possess that was unquestionably his. The translation here preserves the meter and rhyme as well as the thought of the original:
click below to read it, scroll down a way until you see this:
"SA AKING MGA KABATA"
http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter01.htmps; Chica, hope you like this!
ANGELINO
