El aromo: Se hace flores de sus penas: flowers from sorrows

Aromo - Gabriela F Ruellan

I came across this song probably eighteen months to two years ago while exploring Atahualpa [collected songs] but was reminded of it recently by some lines in Mariana Carrizo's Coplas de Presentación. It is a favourite, a better incantation than any of the religious sort I know for stoicism, optimism, endurance, generosity.  

Hay un aromo nacido
There is an acacia tree born

En la grieta de una piedra
In a crack of a stone

Parece que la rompió
It seems like it broke through

Pa' salir de adentro de ella
To come out from inside it.

Está en un alto pela'o
It’s on a high, bare spot

No tiene ni un yuyo cerca
Without even a weed nearby.

Viéndolo solo y florido
Seeing it alone and blooming

Tuito¹ el monte lo envidea
The whole wilderness envies it.

Lo miran a la distancia
They watch it from a distance

Árboles y enredaderas
Trees and vines

Diciéndose con rencor
Saying resentfully to one other

“Pa uno solo, cuánta tierra
For just one tree, how much land

En oro le ofrece al sol²
In gold it offers to the sun

Pagar la luz que le presta”
To pay for its light.

Y como tiene de más
And since it has more than enough

Puña'os por el suelo siembra
Handfuls of seeds its scatters on the ground

Salud, plata y alegría
Health, wealth, and joy

Tuito al aromo, le suebra³
Everything is directed to the acacia, it ?spreads

Asegún ven los demás⁴
According to what others see

Dende⁵ el lugar que lo observan
From the place they observe it

Pero hay que dar y fijarse⁶
But one must watch and notice

Como lo estruja la piedra
How the stone crushes it

Fijarse que es un martirio
Observe that it is a martyrdom

La vida que le envidean
This life they⁷ envy

En ese rajón, el árbol
In that crack, the tree

Nació por su mala estrella
Was born under a bad star

Y en vez de morirse triste
And instead of dying sadly

Se hace flores de sus penas
It makes flowers from its sorrows

Como no tiene reparo
Since it has no protection

Todos los vientos le pegan
All the winds hit it

Las heladas lo castigan
The frosts punish it

L'agua pasa y no se queda
The water passes through but doesn't stay

Ansina⁸ vive el aromo
Thus lives the acacia

Sin que ninguno lo sepa
Without anyone knowing

Con su poquito de orgullo
With its little bit of pride

Porque es justo que lo tenga
Because it deserves to have it

Pero con l'alma tan linda
But with such a beautiful soul

Que no le brota una queja
That it doesn’t utter a complaint

Que en vez de morirse triste
That instead of dying sadly

Se hace flores de sus penas
It makes flowers from its sorrows

¡Eso habrían de envidiarle
That’s what they should envy

Los otros, si lo supieran
Others, if they knew

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1. i.e. todo - country use.

2. The tree's presence and inherent wealth lends the land around it value with which it pays for the sun's light

3. Suebra was suggested to me as possibly being a regional or country version of "sobra" - "has more than enough". So the tree seems to have more than enough, according to those who see it, yet they don't see its "martyrdom", its suffering.

4. This line and its next neighbour are about perspective and empathy. The envy of the other plants is based on appearances. They see the tree as flourishing, healthy, and prosperous, but are oblivious to its struggles and hardships.

5. Archaic form of desde

6.  Dar" - "to give" or "to provide." More abstractly: "to give or pay attention.".  Fijarse: to notice or observe closely

7. They, the other plants

8. Archaic, country form of así. 

Thanks to Marc for his thoughts on point 3.