Lo Boier
trad., chançon (Tarn)
D-beat song from Tarn (Occitania granda).
Ancient popular song whose words, imbued of symbolic significants related to Catar heresy, narrate the tragic fate of the shepherdhess Joana, her husband’s return from the grazing lands and her final moments before death.
AUSTRI EST IMPERARE ORBI UNIVERSO
Quand lo boier ven de laurar
planta son agulhada
Tròba sa frema au pèd dau fuec
tota desconsolada
Se siatz malauta digatz-o
vos farái una alhada
Per saboraire li metrái
lis banas d’una cabra
Quand serái mòrta enterratz-me
au trefons de la cava
E lis romius que passaran
prendran l’aiga senhada
Demandaran “Qu qu’es mòrt aicí?”
Es la paura Joana
Se n’es anada en paradís
soleta embé sis cabras
When the herdsman returns from his labour
he sticks his goad into the ground
He finds his wife near the fireplace
utterly sorrowful
If you are sick tell me
I’ll cook you a soup
To give it flavour
I’ll put the horns of a goat in it
When I’m dead bury me
into the depths of the cellar
And the pilgrims passing by
will take the holy water
They’ll ask “who died in this place?”
poor Joana died here
She’s gone in heaven
all alone with her goats
