A los Romeros de la Pruebla

They say that a pilgrim
returning from El Rocío
a sprig of rosemary fell
near La Puebla del Río.
Under a horse's hoof
the crowd trampled it
and a tired pilgrim
drank the last wine
and poured the leftover water
on the sprig by the road
and the following spring
the pilgrims returned
and the stars shone
over a rosemary bush
with five new branches
Juan and Jose Manuel
Manolo, Pepe, and Faustino
THE ROMEROS DE LA PUEBLA.

Between the sun of the marshes
and the softness of the river
the wild bush grew
always with the same branches
between the sun and the river
to sing Sevillanas
to the Virgin of El Rocío.
At the cattle roundup
to love that ends
to the marshland grandmother
and the sun of the marshes
smoothing the sands.

Three friends and two brothers
with the same dawn.
Five brothers or maybe
five friends who seem
that a single woman
birthed them from her womb
in La Puebla at dawn.
The teachers of this child
who followed their advice
and listened to them sing
always had the mirror
to look at themselves.

Let me compliment
the one who has loved you the most.
How many nights has she not slept
from that group of young men
always in La Puebla del Río
they were the mother and father
and the child's sentry.
Gardener of a rosemary
watering it day and night
the bush has sprouted
she is the queen, lighthouse, and guide
of her children and her husband.

Yesterday I passed by La Puebla
and the pilgrim told me
that the bush still stands
for anyone who wants rosemary
to go to La Puebla to get it.

There were so many springs
between Seville and Triana.
Almost forty El Rocíos
just like the stork
returns to its bell tower
of Romeros de la Puebla
from stage to stage.
The student and the master
with the passing of the years
friends and companions
how beautiful is the embrace
of Los Ecos and Los Romeros.

And Juan and Jose Manuel
Manolo, Pepe, and Faustino
dream of the hour
to sow the path
with verses for the lady.