María Isabel Granda Larco (3 September 1920, Cotabambas, Apurímac, Peru — 8 March 1983, Miami, United States), better known as Chabuca Granda, was a Peruvian singer and composer. She created and interpreted a vast number of Criollo waltzes with Afro-Peruvian rhythms. Her best known song is “La flor de la canela” (The Cinnamon Flower). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chabuca_Granda

I have taken greater poetic liberties for my English translation of “Cardo o Ceniza” than has been the case with my previous translations of Spanish songs. I see this song as a male fantasy of female orgasm, as that fantasy is imagined by a female (the songwriter and all the subsequent female singers). I have chosen to present these orgasmic lyrics in more poetically florid English than I would normally use, since the only other alternative I could think of was a clinical explicitness that risked making a mockery of the sentiment. As is always the case, poetry and song lyrics are best in their original languages.

If this song did not resonate with so much of the sexual fantasy life of males worldwide, it would not be so popular. Without such resonance this song would be like so much of feminist literature, which can be quite explicit and yet attract little male interest. The song is basically a lament about a woman’s inability to find partnership despite being generous and passionate in the giving of her love. We assume the wayward lover is male, but the lyrics are general enough to allow for a lesbian interpretation. The sexual yearning of the female voicing this lament, her submissiveness to the longed-for lover, and the obvious power he holds over her despite her misgivings and prior disappointments at being used, are all very popular male fantasies even as a number of them are thoroughly dishonorable. That resonance with the male id, along with the identification many women will have with the substance of the lament, all make for a universally popular song.

The music of the song is quite nice, always necessary for making a song popular with foreign audiences who do not understand the lyrics.

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Cardo o Ceniza
(Chabuca Granda 1920-1983)

¿Como será mi piel
junto a tu piel?,
¿Como será mi piel
junto a tu piel?,
¿Cardo, cenizas,
como será?

¿Si he de fundir mi espacio
frente al tuyo?
¿Como será tu cuerpo
al recorrerme,
y como mi corazón
si estoy de muerte,
mi corazón
si estoy de muerte?

Se quebrara mi voz
cuando se apague,
de no poderte hablar
en el oido.
Y quemará mi boca
salivada
de la sed que me queme
si me besas,
de la sed que me queme
si me besas.

¿Como será el gemido
y como el grito
al escapar mi vida
entre la tuya?
¿Y como el letargo
al que me entregue
cuando adormezca el sueño
entre tus sueños?

Han de ser breves
mis siestas.
Mis esteros despiertan
con tus rios. (1)

¿Pero, pero como serán
mis despertares?
¿Pero como serán
mis despertares?
¿Pero como serán
mis despertares,
cada vez que despierte
avergonzada,
cada vez que despierte
avergonzada?

Tanto amor
y avergonzada,
tanto amor (tanto amor)
y avergonzada.

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Thistle or Ash
(a translation of Chabuca Granda’s “Cardo o Ceniza”)

How will my skin feel
pressed to your skin?
How will my skin feel
pressed to your skin?
Thistle or ashes,
how will it feel?

Should I open myself to you?,
open myself for you?
How will your body feel as you
drape me completely?
Will it make me come alive
or will it feel deadly?
Will it make me come alive
or will it feel deadly?

My voice will fade away
silenced by the rush,
with no whispered sighs to hear,
no breaths in your ear.
My mouth will wet ravening,
burning for love,
fired by every kiss
thirsting for love,
fired by every kiss
thirsting for love.

How will I whimper to your love
and cry out as mine comes?,
to escape into your life
as now both take flight.
What of the sweet surrender,
the sinking of let down?
Dreams fade in sleep so tender,
will you remember?

My times of peace
are all too brief.
What love I can give is freed
from love received. (1)

Tell me, tell me, how will it be
the morning after?
Tell me, how will it be
the morning after?
Tell me, how will it be
the morning after?
Every time I wake alone
with all my shame,
every time I wake alone
with all my shame.

I love so much
and end so shamefully,
I love so (very very) much
and end so shamefully.

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Note #1. Literally: “my estuaries awaken with your rivers.”

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Chabuca Granda – Cardo o ceniza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpvFOvG9EA
[Modern (<1983) folk-style popular music from Peru; the original version of this song.]

Pamela Rodriguez – Cardo o Ceniza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m423SJBMB4
[Current youth-oriented Latin-American popular music, a cover more popular than the original, “the hit.”]

Niyireth Alarcón – Cardo o ceniza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z2ddoCotck
[An elegant current version from Colombia.]

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