DOÑA INÉS:
Callad, por Dios, ¡oh, don Juan!,
que no podré resistir
mucho tiempo sin morir
tan nunca sentido afán.
¡Ah! Callad por compasión,
que oyéndoos me parece
que mi cerebro enloquece
se arde mi corazón.
¡Ah! Me habéis dado a beber
un filtro infernal, sin duda,
que a rendiros os ayuda
la virtud de la mujer.
Tal vez poseéis, don Juan,
un misterioso amuleto
que a vos me atrae en secreto
como irresistible imán.
Tal vez Satán puso en vos:
su vista fascinadora,
su palabra seductora,
y el amor que negó a Dios.
¿Y qué he de hacer ¡ay de mí!
sino caer en vuestros brazos,
si el corazón en pedazos
me vais robando de aquí?
No, don Juan, en poder mío
resistirte no está ya:
yo voy a ti como va
sorbido al mar ese río.
Tu presencia me enajena,
tus palabras me alucinan,
y tus ojos me fascinan,
y tu aliento me envenena.
¡Don Juan! ¡Don Juan!, yo lo imploro
de tu hidalga compasión:
o arráncame el corazón,
o ámame porque te adoro.

DON JUAN:
¿Alma mía! Esa palabra
cambia de modo mi ser,
que alcanzo que puede hacer
hasta que el Edén se me abra.
No es, doña Inés, Satanás
quien pone este amor en mí;
es Dios, que quiere por ti
ganarme para Él quizás.
No, el amor que hoy se atesora
en mi corazón mortal
no es un amor terrenal
como el que sentí hasta ahora;
no es esa chispa fugaz
que cualquier ráfaga apaga;
es incendio que se traga
cuanto ve, inmenso, voraz.
Desecha, pues, tu inquietud,
bellísima doña Inés,
porque me siento a tus pies
capaz aún de la virtud.
Sí, iré mi orgullo a postrar
ante el buen Comendador,
y o habrá de darme tu amor,
o me tendrá que matar.

DOÑA INÉS: ¡Don Juan de mi corazón!

While all the English speaking countries are celebrating Halloween, here in Spain and in most Spanish speaking countries we prepare ourselves to visit our dead ones in their resting place: the cemetery. Maybe you remember our post from last year where we talked about our traditions for All Saints Day.

But we also have a very popular and literary tradition: it has become a custom of Spanish theater to represent José Zorrilla’s masterpiece, Don Juan Tenorio, on All Saints Day. The myth of Don Juan, licentiousness personified, has its origins in the tragic drama El burlador de Sevilla ( The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest), by Tirso de Molina.

Probably the most well known womanizer in the world is “el Tenorio”. The legend of Don Juan tells how, being a young, cynical and dissolute young swordsman, he seduced Ines, a girl from a noble family who died after he abandoned her. Despite this, and surprisingly, Doña Ines was the owner of his heart. Don Juan also killed her father, who had tried to avenge her, and even mocked on the commemorative effigy over the father’s tomb, inviting it to have dinner. To his surprise, the stone image was his guest in his last night on earth’s dinner… but I’m not going to tell you the whole story!

Some of the more memorable fragments are probably those in which he declares his love to Doña Ines, and she devotedly corresponds. Let me share one with you:

DOÑA INÉS:
Oh God! Silence! How can I stand
to resist, with my sighing,
any longer, without dying,
ah, such longing, Don Juan?
Ah, to silence, for pity’s sake, turn,
for hearing you seems to me
to bring my mind infirmity,
and cause my heart to burn.
Ah! You have doubtless given me
an infernal potion, oh some
charm that helps you overcome
a woman’s purity.
Perhaps, Don Juan, you possess an amulet
a thing of mystery
that draws me secretly
like an irresistible magnet.
Perhaps Satan set in your eyes
his fascinating gaze
his seductive maze,
of words, and the Love he denies
to God. Ah, what am I to do,
but fall into those two
arms, if  you continue to
shatter my heart in two?
Don Juan, it’s no longer in me
to own the power to resist you: no,
I turn to you as the river flows
that runs down to the sea.
Your presence maddens me,
your words hypnotize me,
and your eyes fascinate me,
and your breath envenoms me.
Don Juan! Don Juan, I implore you
in your noble heart, of pity,
either tear my heart from me,
or love me, because I adore you.
DON JUAN: My soul! Those words indeed
change my whole state of being.
and I know perhaps I am seeing
Paradise open to me.
Doña Inés, it is not Satan, in sin,
who creates this love in me:
it is God, who wants, perhaps
through you, to win me to Him.
No, the love that is precious
in my heart, that is mortal,
is not that love, terrestrial,
that up to now I’ve treasured;
nor is it a fleeting spark of need
that a breath of wind defeats:
it is a roaring fire that eats
all it sees, in its vast greed.
Calm then your fears, oh you
my most beautiful Inés,
for at your feet I feel that, yes,
even I am filled with virtue.
Ah, I will swallow my pride
before the good Comendador,
to adore
or death will be my bride.
DOÑA INÉS: My dearest Don Juan!