At three in the afternoon the soldiers killed the poet but his voice fled to the Andalusian valleys.
Nobody mourned his death.
Nobody, nobody, nobody. Only a gypsy and a dwarf
mourned the poet's death today.
The padre does not mourn the poet.
He has wept since the day he sinned
with a child actress in the Grand Cathedral;
but the child will come to him no more and the padre has been crying for years.
In the cemetery, the grave digger waits.
Why is the grave digger waiting for a corpse
without a voice? No one in the town knows.
The gypsy and the dwarf whimper.
They are frightened of the man wearing a black sombrero and with jackdaw feathers on his lips.
He has come to watch the play
that no one in the town remembers.
In springtime the orange groves
scatter blossom on the poet's grave
and a swarm of sterile butterflies
pour out of the hombre's mouth.
Alfacar is a town on edge.
Who betrayed the poet today?
Nobody in the town knows. Nobody, nobody, nobody.
Read A short biography of Federico García Lorca Spain's greatest poet and playwright
A few words about the poem...
A Tribute to Federico Garcia Lorca: Unravelling the Allegory in 'The Passion Play' and Echoes of the Poet's Haunting Legacy
In the quiet expanse of poetic musings, "The Passion Play," a tribute to Federico Garcia Lorca, unfolds as a profound tapestry, resonating with the solemn echoes of Easter rituals in Spanish and Greek villages, transforming into an allegory of Federico García Lorca's tragic demise. In the heart of this poignant narrative lies a stark observation: the poet, silenced by soldiers at the appointed hour of three, sees his voice take a flight to the tender bosom of Andalusian valleys—an ethereal departure witnessed by few, mourned by fewer.
The profound silence that ensues after the poet's demise becomes an unspoken chasm that reverberates through the verses. The public, stoic and unmoved, refrains from mourning the poet's fate. Only the marginalized—a gypsy and a dwarf—stand as the solitary mourners, their lamentations weaving a poignant dirge amidst the town's apathy. Lorca, in his evocative prowess, painted scenes of human sorrows, capturing the essence of the overlooked, the unheard, and the forgotten. In this allegory, those left behind echo the haunting emptiness left by the poet's untimely departure.
The padre, marked by sins committed within the grand Cathedral, weeps not for the poet but for a lost innocence. The child actress, a transient muse, will return no more, and the padre's tears flow perennially. Here, one can't help but draw parallels to Lorca's own struggles with societal norms, his confrontations with tradition, and the perennial conflict between his artistic expression and societal expectations. The padre's tears become a reflection of the societal discord that Lorca grappled with in his life and art.
The cemetery's grave digger, a mysterious figure in waiting, raises questions without answers. Why anticipate a voiceless corpse, and who holds the key to this enigmatic mystery? The town, much like Lorca's works, becomes a crucible of unresolved questions and unspoken truths. The answers to the grave digger's silent queries remain elusive, casting a veil of uncertainty over the narrative.
As the gypsy and the dwarf whimper, a mysterious spectator, draped in a black sombrero with jackdaw feathers on his lips, makes an entrance. His presence is enigmatic, a spectre drawn to witness a play forgotten by the town, injecting an element of suspense into the narrative. One can't help but draw parallels between this enigmatic figure and Lorca's own penchant for the mysterious and the symbolic in his works, particularly in pieces like "Blood Wedding" and "Yerma."
The orange groves, in their seasonal renewal, scatter blossoms on the poet's grave—a delicate reminder of nature's cyclical embrace, juxtaposed against the harsh reality of death. Here, the imagery evokes Lorca's deep connection to nature, a recurring theme in his poetry. The juxtaposition of life's continuity with the finality of death echoes the existential themes woven into Lorca's verses.
In a surreal and symbolic twist, a swarm of sterile butterflies emerges from the man's mouth, symbolizing a transformation that transcends the boundaries of the tangible and the metaphorical. The sterile butterflies, reminiscent of Lorca's exploration of life and death, speak to the ephemeral nature of existence, the fragility of artistic legacy, and the enduring power of artistic expression even in the face of mortality.
Alfacar, a town perched on the precipice and where Lorca is believed to have been buried in its nearby countryside, grapples with the unanswered question: who betrayed the poet? A question echoing through the verses, haunting the collective consciousness. Here, one cannot escape drawing parallels to Lorca's own tragic end during the Spanish Civil War—a life cut short by political strife and societal unrest. The unanswered question becomes a poignant reflection of the unresolved mysteries surrounding Lorca's death, a lingering enigma that permeates his legacy.
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