Cant de la sirena

Cant de la sirena

Lyrics

Si guaito eI cel s'encenen les estrelles;
si baixo eIs ulls tremolen i s’apaguen.
Ai si en la terra mos encants sabien!
Que sols i freds los regnes populosos!

Jo tinc palaus de màgica estructura;
serpents alades els pilars envolten;
en llargues cintes transparent verdor;
mosaics de perles, de corall les voltes.

Veniu, mortals: soc eterna.

Si guayto eI cel s'encenen les estrelles;
si baixo eIs ulls tremolen i s’apaguen.
Ai si en la terra mos encants sabien!
Que sols i freds los regnes populosos!

Populosos, populosos,
populosos, populosos,
que sols i freds!

Sos cabells esbullats onejaven,
i l'ona, que de perles la vestia,
al fugir de sos braços gemegava,
i al tornar a sos braços s'adormia.

Original poem

Fragment from the poem 'La Sirena', published in 1905

 

ÀNGEL GUIMERÀ

 

(6 May 1845 – 18 July 1924)
Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands) – Barcelona (Catalonia)

 

Poet and playwright, he is one of the central figures in the consolidation of modern Catalan theatre and language. His dramatic works, charged with moral conflict, passion, and violence, achieved an international reach unprecedented for Catalan theatre. Although his poetry is less well known, it shares with his theatre the same tragic and symbolic drive. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times, without ever receiving it.