The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14687 Message #1537726
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
08-Aug-05 - 01:40 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Maria Consuelo Arroyo (Tim Henderson)
Subject: Lyr Add: MARIA CONSUELO ARROYO (Tim Henderson)
A couple of notes:
As Guest J (Jan Marra) posted, the name is Maria Consuelo (not Consuela). As he noted, he changed the first two lines of the third verse.
Tim Henderson wrote the poem in three stanzas, each with nine lines, some quite long.
Here it is in the form Henderson used in his book "Sweeping Up Dreams, Lyrics as Poetry," p. 16.
MARIA CONSUELO ARROYO
(Tim Henderson, 1996)
Maria Consuelo Arroyo was born
and was raised on the south side of town,
With eyes holding midnight, the face of an angel come down,
In softness and beauty she grew like a rose without thorns,
At fifteen she married, at sixteen her first child was born,
And time is a lover, the planter in ripeness
who harvests your dreams,
And time is the river that sweeps us along in its stream,
It brings us together, then forces us cruelly apart,
And there's no wrinkled crone, in her dry skin and bones,
Who is not a young girl in her heart.
Maria Consuelo Arroyo, she bore seven more
on the south side of town,
And her love for her family like soft rain came whispering down,
Like flowers in a garden, they flourished in beauty and grace,
With their eyes, like dark mirrors, reflecting the love in her face,
And time is the traitor, yes, time is the villain
who stalks on our stage,
The bringer of heartache, the bringer of wrinkles and age,
He brings us together, then forces us cruelly apart,
And there's no wrinkled crone, in her dry skin and bones,
Who is not a young girl at heart.
Maria Consuelo Arroyo, her man fell in battle
across wine dark seas,
And her children were scattered like feathers
that ride down the breeze,
She kneels in the darkness, nine candles she lights every day,
And Padre Alphonso remembers their names when he prays,
And time's the black angel, a dark curandero
who brings the long sleep,
And time is a shepherd who's keeping good watch on his sheep,
So he brings back together the souls that he once tore apart,
And he comforts old crones in their dry skin and bones,
For he still loves the girl in their heart.
And time is a lover, the planter in ripeness who harvests your
dreams...
Tim Henderson, 1996, "Sweeping Up Dreams, Lyrics as Poetry," Sun Country Publications, Wimberly, Texas. (P. O. Box 1482, Wimberly, TX 78676, 512-847-5162).