La novena
La novena (Novena) is the title of a tango written in 1933 by Alfredo Bigeschi. The music was composed by Miguel Bonano.
Lyrics writer(s):
In the context of the religious act of the novena, the poet describes an old woman in painful mourning for her son, dead in the war as a hero.
Recordings
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Lyrics
La ciudad bosteza,
de pena y placer
envuelta en las sombras
del anochecer...
Campanas de bronce,
las voces de Dios,
anunciando "la Novena",
se oyen cual deber sagrado
con su toque acompasado
de oración.
Viejitas y muchachas, desfilan hacia el templo,
consuelo de las almas que descansan en paz.
Hilvanan un rosario de penas y recuerdos,
de hermanos, padres, novios que ya no volverán.
Los fieles de rodillas elevan hacia el cielo
plegarias a la Virgen y súplicas a Dios,
y mientras en voz baja dicen avemarías
el padre "sermonea" desde el Altar Mayor.
En un rincón del templo, hincada y sollozando,
una viejita humilde que tiembla de emoción...
Son lágrimas de su alma las cuentas del rosario
y es infinita angustia la de su corazón...
Respetan esa pena los que saben su historia,
y en su dolor profundo repite en la oración:
¡Señor...! ¡yo tuve un hijo...! pero vino la guerra...
Me lo pidió la patria... ¡y nunca, nunca más volvió!
Lo esperó con ansias.
En su soledad
y con su retrato
se ponía a llorar.
Lo esperó con ansias
pero no volvió.
Los que han vuelto le contaron
que en la guerra lo mataron
abrazado a su bandera,
con valor.
The city yawns
with sorrow and pleasure
wrapped in the shadows
of nightfall...
Bronze bells,
God’s voices,
anouncing the Novena,
are heard as a holy duty
with their rythmical,
praying toll.
Little old ladies and young ones parade towards the temple,
comfort of the souls resting in peace.
They put together a rosary of sorrows and memories,
of brothers, fathers, boyfriends who won’t return.
The kneeling believers raise towards the heavens
prayers to the Virgin and pleads to God,
and while they recite Hail Marys in a hushed tone
the priest preaches from the high altar.
On a corner of the temple, kneeling down and weeping,
there’s an old lady tembling with emotion...
Tears from her soul are the beads in her rosary
and infinite, the anguish in her heart...
Those who know her story respect that sorrow,
and in her deep pain she repeats in prayer:
Lord...! I had a son...! But war came along...
The homeland asked me for him... and he never ever returned!
She waited for him anxiously.
In her solitude
with his portrait
she would break into tears.
She waited for him anxiously
but he didn’t come back.
Those who did return told her
he was killed in the war,
holding on to his flag,
bravely.
References
- ↑ A novena (from Latin: Novem, meaning Nine) is an institutional act of religious pious devotion in the Roman Catholic Church, often consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days in belief of obtaining special intercessory graces.