April 2020 - Lullaby

In 2020 Mari signed me up to an online decimas course as a birthday present. I'm sure I had been boring her to death with chatter about decimas having read Violeta Parra's autobiography written entirely in decimas and generally being excited about having discovered this poetic tradition so central to Spanish-language poetry, music and improvised spoken-word story-telling. For the highlights of the history of decimas watch Jorge Drexler's TED talk on the subject.

What I didn't realise at the time was that the teacher of this course was perhaps the greatest living exponent of improvised decimas in the world, the great Alexis Diaz Pimienta - I learned so much about decimas in this course (although I still have much more to learn) and met word-nerds like me from all over the world.

Before I started the course, Mari challenged me to write some decimas as a kind of warm up. Faced with the terror of a blank page and a poetic form I had never tried my hand at before, she helped channel my thinking by suggesting I write the bits of life advice we've tried to impart to our kids as they've grown up. It wasn't much of a leap from that subject matter to the idea of a lullaby, essentially the lullaby I wish I had sung my kids from a young age, but that hopefully still holds some useful guidance through the rest of their lives. The final product is not the real deal as far as meeting the requirements of a decima - there are a few rhymes that are not "consonante", essentially an imperfect rhyme.

Decimas are such a wonderful form, they fit pretty much any music style. I landed on a zamba argentina as the song form - it has a lovely swing that kind of evokes a cradle rocking and has lots of open space for the words to breathe (which is not always easy when you're trying to fit three lots of 10 stanzas of eight syllables into music).

Duerme amorcito, duerme

Sueña con alas y aire

Cariñitos de tu maire

Y luz filtrada con verde

Y cuando el día despierte

Camina con ojos abiertos

Cada encanto descubierto

Escondido a plena vista

Es tu materia de artista

Y nota en tu concierto

Sé amable y concienzudo

También difícil una gota

Porque todo lo que importa

Requiere a veces un gruño

Pero no levantes un puño

La violencia no conviene

Y si eso no te retiene

Agota tus golpes de voz

Sé amigo fiel y feroz

Que con ellos todo tienes

Ama de cuerpo entero

Como implora Violeta

Y si bien no hay receta

Pa’ triunfar con un ‘te quiero’

Habita lo incierto

Exprésalo con ardor

No te la juegues con temor

Sin riesgo no se adelanta

El amor es una fogata

Pero tú traes el calor

Translation

Sleep my love, sleep,

Dream of wings and air,

Caresses from your mother

And green-filtered light.

And when the day awakens,

Walk with your eyes wide open,

Every enchantment you discover,

Hidden in plain sight,

Is material for your art

And a note in your symphony.

Be kind and conscientious

But also a little difficult,

Because everything that matters

Sometimes requires a snarl.

But never raise a fist,

Violence never pays,

And if that doesn't hold you back,

First exhaust all of your verbal blows.

Be a faithful and fierce friend

For with them you have everything you need.

Love with all of your being,

As Violeta implored us to,

And although it's true there is no recipe

To succeed with an 'I love you',

Live in the uncertain,

Express your love with ardour,

Don't play it safe,

Nothing is gained without risk,

Love burns brightly

But you bring the warmth.