Erinnerung an die Marie A.

I recently watched "The Lives of Others". While watching it something very strange happened: I found a bridge to my past.

I have a cousin who sings. She has a beautiful voice and plays about every instrument imaginable. She encouraged me to play while growing up, and along the way I did. The piano, the sax, harmonica, bass guitar, guitar. I was surrounded by music. One time she made a demo tape. I had it at home and played it often. I didn't know the songs, but I started learning them. That's how I discovered "The Rose" and "River". That's how I discovered blues and gospel.

But up until that moment in "The Lives of Others", I had completely forgotten about that one song I used to sing. Up until that moment. One of the main characters lays on a couch and reads from a Bertolt Brech book. He was reading a poem in German. I was reading the English. And still, I remembered the Spanish:

Fue un día de un azul Septiembre cuando
Bajo la sombra de un ciruelo joven
Tuve a mi dulce amor entre los brazos
Como se tiene a un sueño calmo y suave
Y en el hermoso cielo de verano
Sobre nosotros, se posó una nube
Era una nube altísima y muy blanca
Cuando volví a mirarla, ya no estaba

Pasaron desde entonces muchas nubes
Navegando despacio por el cielo
A los ciruelos les llegó la tala
Y me preguntas, que fue de aquel amor
Debo decirte que ya no lo recuerdo
Y sin embargo entiendo tus palabras
Pero ya no me acuerdo de su cara
Y sólo se que un día, lo bese
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Little research showed me the original. And although I didn't know the source of this song, this poem, up until that moment, exactly at that moment, I got a little piece of myself back.