Introduction: Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562-1635) was one of literature's most prolific writers, a monument of the Spanish Golden Age; among his many works are hundreds of plays and poems, including multiple epics, as well as some novels. Though he had a variety of lovers and mistresses, he was ordained a priest in 1614, and many of his poems are religious. Among them is the collection Romancero Espiritual (Spiritual Romance-Book, a romance being a type of Spanish folk ballad). Below are the opening lines of one of these romances, "On the Solitude of Our Lady." I find the sharp contrasts of these opening lines quite effective as their own poem, separated from the full romance. They are also fitting lines for Great and Holy Friday. The source is Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, Obras Escogidas, ed. Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (Madrid: Aguilar, 1953), II:124.
From Romancero Espiritual XVIII
"On the Solitude of Our Lady"
Lope de Vega
(1562-1635)
Without a Father, because He’s hid;
without a Son, because He’s dead;
without a light,
because sun cries;
without a voice,
because Word dies;
without a soul,
absent her own;
without a body,
her body enterred;
without the
earth, for all is blood;
without the air,
for all is flame;
without the
flame, for all is water;
without the water, for all is ice.
Translation ©2023 Brandon P. Otto. Licensed via CC BY-NC. Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.
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