September 23, 2008

Happy Grito de Lares! ... or something like that

I don't feel the need to describe el Grito de Lares here, seeing as Wikipedia does a decent job of describing it. Instead I thought I would just put the original lyrics for La Borinqueña, written in 1868. The lyrics used now for the anthem have been edited (or censured, if you prefer) to exclude the revolutionary feel of the song. English lyrics courtesy of Wikipedia (again)...

¡Despierta, borinqueño
que han dado la señal!
¡Despierta de ese sueño
que es hora de luchar!
[Arise, boricua! The call to arms has sounded! Awake from the slumber, it is time to fight!]
A ese llamar patriótico
¿no arde tu corazón?
¡Ven! Nos será simpático
el ruido del cañón.
[Doesn't this patriotic call set your heart alight? Come! We are in tune with the roar of the cannon.]
Mira, ya el cubano
libre será;
le dará el machete
su libertad...
le dará el machete
su libertad.
[Come, the Cuban will soon be free; the machete will give him his liberty, the machete will give him his liberty.]
Ya el tambor guerrero
dice en su son,
que es la manigua el sitio,
el sitio de la reunión,
de la reunión...
de la reunión.
[Now the war drum says with its sound, that the countryside is the place of the meeting.]
El Grito de Lares
se ha de repetir,
y entonces sabremos
vencer o morir.
[The Cry of Lares must be repeated, and then we will know: victory or death.]
Bellísima Borinquén,
a Cuba hay que seguir;
tú tienes bravos hijos
que quieren combatir.
[Beautiful Borinquén must follow Cuba; you have brave sons who wish to fight.]
ya por más tiempo impávido
no podemos estar,
ya no queremos, tímidos
dejarnos subyugar.
[Now, no longer can we be unmoved; now we do not want timidly to let them subjugate us.]
Nosotros queremos
ser libre ya,
y nuestro machete
afilado está.
y nuestro machete
afilado está.
[We want to be free now, and our machete has been sharpened.]
¿Por qué, entonces, nosotros
hemos de estar,
tan dormidos y sordos
y sordos a esa señal?
a esa señal, a esa señal?
[Why then have we been so sleepy and deaf to the call?]
No hay que temer, riqueños
al ruido del cañón,
que salvar a la patria
es deber del corazón!
[There is no need to fear, Ricans, the roar of the cannon; saving the nation is the duty of the heart.]
ya no queremos déspotas,
caiga el tirano ya,
las mujeres indómitas
también sabrán luchar.
[We no longer want despots, tyranny shall fall now; the unconquerable women also will know how to fight.]
Nosotros queremos
la libertad,
y nuestros machetes
nos la darán...
y nuestro machete
nos la dará...
[We want liberty, and our machetes will give it to us.]
Vámonos, borinqueños,
vámonos ya,
que nos espera ansiosa,
ansiosa la libertad.
¡La libertad, la libertad!
[Come, Boricuas, come now, since freedom awaits us anxiously, freedom, freedom!]

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