Oh Yemanja (Mother’s Prayer)

Program Note: "Oh Yemanja" is an excerpt from Tania León's opera "Scourge of Hyacinths." León wrote both the music and the libretto for this opera! In "Oh Yemanja," the mother in the opera calls on the goddess Yemanja and prays for her son, who has been sent to prison.

Sheet Music: Found at this link, Pg. 390-392

Lyrics:
"Oh Yemanja, Sister of the clear...
Sister of the once clear waters,
Mover of the undertows,
Your waters are muddied.
Your once clear path, 
undertows that suck my household down
to the seabed

I shall not abandon faith...
I await a sign.
Protectress of the innocent,
Let my son be an eel without scales,
that yet survives both heat and cold,
flood and drought.
Let him breast these rapids.
Let him reach the calm sanctuary
of your clear spring waters.

Oh Yemanja, 
keep faith with your faithful survivor.
Don't abandon my frail crafts in midstream,
no, not among the fulsome hyacinths.
Oh Yemanja, Protectress, seer of all, Sister..."