Cantora de Yala

Saint Leoncia of Farfán,
from the Quebrada de Reyes,
descends to the tents of Yala
at seventy years old.

The flour of Carnival
weighs heavy on her temples
when over the women
her sweet song rises.

(Chorus)
Joyful like few,
Lady Santa greets the dawn,
the spring of her verses flows
through old paths,
the spring of her verses flows
washing away her loneliness.

There’s no love pain
that doesn’t burn from her lips
and there’s no tent of baguala
that doesn’t lament for her.

The chicha at dawn
sleeps in her eyes
until a beat of the drum
sings her back to life.