The Lady Llorona (La Llorona)

    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