Campos de Castilla
Campos de Castilla is one of the most famous books written by the hand of the brilliant spanish poet Antonio Machado between the years 1907 and 1917; in his poems, Antonio described with elegance and force the rural world of the center of Spain. He talked about the decay of this historical important part of the country, he showed how Castilla's days of glory had gone like its rivers to the sea, the pride of the people was no longer based in present but in past memories. We can also read in his words the beauty of this land, his passion for its changing fields, its solitude and its rivers.
One hundred years later, due to the industrialization process, the growing importance of cities, and the political changes and policies which created and increased a mass exodus from villages to towns, the picture of this land is more than ever "páramo de ascetas" (ascetics moorland). My generation is witness to the meaningless spiritual life of today, the solitude of the elders, the disconnection from the nurturing fields and the burial of what one day was a rich rural culture. Our heritage is the void left by this disappeared culture and the shame for the rural.
One hundred years later, due to the industrialization process, the growing importance of cities, and the political changes and policies which created and increased a mass exodus from villages to towns, the picture of this land is more than ever "páramo de ascetas" (ascetics moorland). My generation is witness to the meaningless spiritual life of today, the solitude of the elders, the disconnection from the nurturing fields and the burial of what one day was a rich rural culture. Our heritage is the void left by this disappeared culture and the shame for the rural.
...
¡Oh, tierra triste y noble,
la de los altos llanos y yermos y roquedas,
de campos sin arados, regatos ni arboledas;
decrépitas ciudades, caminos sin mesones,
y atónitos palurdos sin danzas ni canciones
que aun van, abandonando el mortecino hogar,
como tus largos ríos, Castilla, hacia la mar!
Castilla miserable, ayer dominadora,
envuelta en sus andrajos desprecia cuanto ignora.
¿Espera, duerme o sueña? ¿La sangre derramada
recuerda, cuando tuvo la fiebre de la espada?
Todo se mueve, fluye, discurre, corre o gira;
cambian la mar y el monte y el ojo que los mira.
¿Pasó? Sobre sus campos aún el fantasma yerra
de un pueblo que ponía a Dios sobre la guerra.
...
A orillas del Duero, en Campos de Castilla. Antonio Machado
¡Oh, tierra triste y noble,
la de los altos llanos y yermos y roquedas,
de campos sin arados, regatos ni arboledas;
decrépitas ciudades, caminos sin mesones,
y atónitos palurdos sin danzas ni canciones
que aun van, abandonando el mortecino hogar,
como tus largos ríos, Castilla, hacia la mar!
Castilla miserable, ayer dominadora,
envuelta en sus andrajos desprecia cuanto ignora.
¿Espera, duerme o sueña? ¿La sangre derramada
recuerda, cuando tuvo la fiebre de la espada?
Todo se mueve, fluye, discurre, corre o gira;
cambian la mar y el monte y el ojo que los mira.
¿Pasó? Sobre sus campos aún el fantasma yerra
de un pueblo que ponía a Dios sobre la guerra.
...
A orillas del Duero, en Campos de Castilla. Antonio Machado
