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| Rosa 'Vineyard Song' & Hosta 'Snake Eyes' 15 August 2025 |
It seems that only in English does it rain animals as “it is raining cats and dogs”. In Spanish we say “Está lloviendo a cántaros”. A cántaro was originally a large earthen pot.
In English we have “drizzle”. Argentines use the word garúa instead of the more usual llovizna which is a modification of the ver llover to rain. Mexicans take the cake with their lovely version of drizzle which is chipichipi.
Because it is indeed raining today it gives me another excuse to put here my favourite Jorge Luís Borges poem La Lluvia. A version in English is included.
La Lluvia - Jorge Luís Borges
Bruscamente la tarde se ha aclarado
porque ya cae la lluvia minuciosa.
Cae o cayó. La lluvia es una cosa
que sin duda sucede en el pasado.
Quien la oye caer ha recobrado
el tiempo en que la suerte venturosa
le reveló una flor llamada rosa
y el curioso color del colorado.
Esta lluvia que ciega los cristales
alegrará en perdidos arrabales
las negras uvas de una parra en cierto
patio que ya no existe. La mojada
tarde me trae la voz, la voz deseada,
de mi padre que vuelve y que no ha muerto.
The Rain : J. L. Borges
The afternoon grows light because at last
Abruptly a minutely shredded rain
Is falling, or it fell. For once again
Rain is something happening in the past.
Whoever hears it fall has brought to mind
Time when by a sudden lucky chance
A flower called “rose” was open to his glance
And the curious color of the colored kind.
This rain that blinds the windows with its mists
Will gladden in suburbs no more to be found
The black grapes on a vine there overhead
In a certain patio that no longer exists.
And the drenched afternoon brings back the sound
How longed for, of my father's voice, not dead.