i
The Lady Llorona
passes near here –
Beware!
my Dear Son,
of the Crocodile Tears.
Take “No!”
for your answer.
Tenga Cuidado!
Como se dice –
“Watch out for this Lady.”
I will give you a tale,
it’s high-time you knew,
of the Modern Medea,
Dark Angel of Hell.
I’ve waited ‘til now,
but Now’s overdue –
Fruition and Prudence,
first needed of you.
ii
You have heard the sounds
a large part of Life,
sounds that rise from El Grande –
A River much like
the Nile to its Land:
The River of Promise,
El Rio Grande.
So listen much closely,
you’ll hear it clear,
the wailing and crying,
a stream of ghost tears.
La Señora Llorona
wanders near here,
throughout the night,
every day, every year.
The story of Grief
and the Torment she bears
become of what follows
from here:
iii
Years upon years,
many years, long ago,
lived once La Señora
of New Mexico.
So fair was the maiden,
far fairer, unknown.
Yet she loved but one man,
and one man alone.
Dom Juan San Diego,
un grand Caballero.
So fond of young women
was this grand inamorato.
And the Lady Llorona
se dice Hermosa.
Muy Linda
this Lady
of New Mexico.
But the Lady Llorona
was married to plan –
Los Patrones had sanctioned
an elderly man.
His cause, her beauty;
hers, the duty:
a young wife
to the Life
of Tradition.
iv
El Señor,
a fortunate man,
un hombre muy suerte.
For he’d won the hand,
la maña encantada,
of the lady,
La Señora Llorona.
And felicity wrought.
Good fortune it brought
A el Señor,
for his love
of the Lady.
Of their children amassed,
tres came to pass –
un hijo y double las hijas.
Y el Señor never knew
that the Lady held true
to brujeria,
and the bruja’s mysteria.
For years upon end
good luck she would spin
for herself, for her friends,
and her familia.
v
And all went quite well
‘til the day that befell
el Señor, when compelled
to travel a distance for business.
Not until his return
was it that he learned
of Dom Diego
and Llorona’s love interest.
For both had demurred
to love, and concurred
a las citas
secretas
amores.
La Senora Llorona
fell for amora,
in Dom Juan San Diego,
el novio nuevo
de ella Senora,
La Llorona.
vi
And Love has its way,
ensares every day,
by insatiable desire
with fire.
The demiurge at play,
here he had his sway
on two bodies;
the souls he acquired.
Though choice is a way,
but only one way,
responsible action requires
to ward off desires
the demiurge transpires –
Beware!
of the demiurge
at play.
Dom Juan San Diego
embodied the fuego
La Señor Llorona
fell into.
And the Fire still burned,
long after one spurned,
when Dom Diego abandoned
and run.
All the damage done spent,
her flame did relent;
and off, then,
to El Paso
he went.
vii
Cold Air returns
o’er that which it burns;
but the spark that remains
o’er all which has changed,
reminds all the same
and retains.
Bereft and besotten
she felt over-wroughten
by the light that enlivened,
now gone!
but still unforgotten.
And the Burden got darker;
heavier, starker.
The weight of self-sorrow
was wasting away
all Resolve to Recover.
O! Piteous Lover!
The Torment grew Stronger,
until one autumn day.
And Then!
by Despair,
All end to Welfare –
A Modern Medea, maternal filicide!
Henceforth, from here
evermore vilified.
viii
Thus, then, my son,
and as well, everyone,
is the tale of Señora Llorona.
Neither Heaven nor Hell
may Llorona in dwell;
but condemned to roam
the Rio Grande.
La Llorona must search
for the young lives there Lost;
and forever, evermore,
Be Damned!
© Marvin Loyd Welborn, 2013
 |
Rio Grande River and Bosque near Albuquerque, New Mexico
Photo from Wikimedia Commons |
