Lyrics by Federico Garcia Lorca, from FIVE PLAYS, Copyright © 1983 by New Directions Publishing Corp.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
At the end of Act One, the sensitive Boybeetle, sitting on a white pebble, and holding his beloved red poppy, is writing a poem on a piece of tree bark. During the song, Sylvia enters, hidden, shading herself with a daisy. She listens, so much in love with him, and hopelessly broken-hearted.
The aria was first performed by Gayle Ross, accompanied by Frank DiGiacomo at DiGiacomo in Concert, May 28,1975 at the Everson Museum of Art, in Syracuse, New York.
The Song is available as a downloadable Sheet Music PDF, a live performance MP3, a piano-only MP3 rendering of the sheet music for rehearsal purposes and a synth voice and piano MP3.
LYRICS
Boybeetle:
Oh Scarlet Poppy, who o’er all the meadow gaze,
would that I were as lovely as you, that I were as lovely as you.
Your gown paints the sky with a scarlet haze,
weeping for the daybreak’s dew.
You are the star that gives our village light.
But may my eyes go blind ere I see the sight of your stem,
without light, without warmth, turned yellow,
and your leaves withered and your color sallow.
Would that I were but an ant, on you I could gaze
without breaking your slender stem.
I’d like to be with you for the rest of my days,
with April-honey kisses, for our lovemaking.
Ah! Ah! In my kisses the warmth and sweetness lie
of the fire whence lives my passion rare,
and from now until the day I die,
this heart for you, will always care.