Ahhhhh... The old and warm Mediterranean... Even if only as a generic name of a climatic type, I can't help remembering it...
"Maybe because my childhood
is still playing on your beach,
and hidden behind the reeds
sleeps my first love,
I carry your light and your scent
wherever I go...
...And huddled in your sand,
I keep love, games and sorrows...
I, who in my skin have the bitter taste
of the bitter taste of eternal weeping,
that a hundred peoples have poured into you,
from Algeciras to Istanbul,
for you to paint in blue
their long winter nights...
...By dint of misfortunes,
your soul is deep and dark...
To your red sunsets,
my eyes have grown accustomed
like the bend in the road...
...I am a singer, I am a plain poet;
I like the game and the wine,
I have the soul of a sailor...
...And what am I going to do?
If I was born in the Mediterranean...
...I was born in the Mediterranean...
And you come nearer, sea, and you go away,
after kissing my village...
...playing with the tide,
you leave, thinking of coming back;
you are like a woman,
perfumed with tar...,
...who is longed for and loved....,
...who is known and feared....
Oh! If one day for my bad,
Death comes looking for me...
...push my boat into the sea,
with an autumn east wind,
And let the storm
scrap its white wings...
...And bury me without mourning...
...between the beach and the sky...
On a hillside,
higher than the horizon,
I want to have a good view...
...My body will be a path,
I'll give its green to palm trees, holm oaks and pines,
and yellow to the genista...
But close to the sea, because I...
...I was born in the Mediterranean...
...I was born in the Mediterranean...
...I was born in the Mediterranean..."
Forgive the sentimental intrusion, and cordial greetings from an outdoor grower at 39° North, 900 metres altitude, and hundreds of kilometres from any coastline.