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"Pongáio" was the name my Aunt Mona gave to a long, green, cool room where we gathered at her home —
replete with comfy chairs, a rocker, sewing machine, sewing goods, beautiful beads, shelves, books, bibelots, photographs, odds'n'ends, mementos of a life, treasures —
a gathering of all the useful & 'useless' things that so make life a pleasure.



Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Goodbye

Yesterday, some rather sad news. A great violeiro, one who plays the ten-steel-string guitar typical of Brazilian folk music, the viola, passed away.
Thank you, Pena Branca, for all the good music you shared with us!



O Cio da Terra
Pena Branca e Xavantinho
Composição: Milton Nascimento e Chico Buarque

Debulhar o trigo
Recolher cada bago do trigo
Forjar no trigo o milagre do pão
E se fartar de pão

Decepar a cana
Recolher a garapa da cana
Roubar da cana a doçura do mel
Se lambuzar de mel

Afagar a terra
Conhecer os desejos da terra
Cio da terra, a propícia estação
E fecundar o chão


 Heat of the Earth
(my translation)
husk the wheat
gather each grain of wheat
forge from the wheat the miracle of bread
and satiate oneself with bread

cut the sugarcane
gather the juice of the sugarcane
steal from the cane the sweetness of molasses
smear oneself with molasses

caress the earth
know the earth's desires
heat of the earth, the propitiuos season
and fertilise the ground

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