La relíquia [English translation]

Mutilated Faun

dry fountain

ravaged garden

of my youth...

Blessed be the hour

that brought me here

the fountain that does not flow, the fountain that does not cry

makes me cry.

Seems it was yesterday

that under the mystery of the flowery shade

lying in the moss

the best hours of life passed us by.

We felt the sweet music of the water

and watched the fish in the pool.

we picked up buds, we hunted little animals

and we got scrapes

climbing atop the branches of the acerole trees.

No one knows how it was

that delving in the lushness

of the lordly orchard

making it more sombre

grew the branch of the ancient olive tree.

Centennial tree,

lovingly offered the crooked branch

so we could climb without an effort.

To the might of the biggest and strongest branch

hung the rope from the swing.

And, turn upon turn

we played and laughed until the late hour

the dim light of the last hour of day

of the hour of magic.

It'd seem like a dream,

the time that has flown

out of my life.

Without the wound it has left on the heart

without the wounds that open again

when I see that the fountain in the garden

does not flow

or sings or cries.

Thirty years of my life went by quickly

and still hungs there,

fastened to the branch

a piece of rope from the swing

like a sad relic,

rotten debris of a crumbled world.

Mutilated Faun,

dry fountain

ravaged garden

of my youth.

• Artist:Maria del Mar Bonet
• Album:Jardí tancat (1981)