M’ama
During my last year of vocal competitions–before my life took an unexpected turn towards Virginia and HSLDA–my “final round” piece was an aria from a wonderful little Donizetti opera called L’elisir D’amore.
The aria was entitled Una Furtiva Lagrima, meaning “One Furtive Tear.” It is sung by the opera’s hero as he realizes–*gasp*–that the tears from the heroine mean that she is in love with him! (If you want to hear something of what I sounded like, you can see some guy imitate me here.)
All of this is, fortunately, not completely irrelevant. You see, my mom was always the one that took me to my vocal competitions, and this posed a bit of a difficulty when I sang this song. Right in the middle, when the aria modulates from minor to major, sung high and loud, comes the Italian contraction “M’ama.” Despite being a homophone, it has nothing to do with the immediate maternal ancestor in this linguistic rendering. Even after telling Mom this, she would still grin every time I sang it. I had to avoid looking her–especially during the final round–to keep from laughing.
There are songs, though, that do a much better job of giving praise where it is due. Here is one from Tenology
Mama, I send you this letter,
Hoping my words can convey,
All that I’m trying to tell you,
All that my heart wants to say.Mama, I want to tell you that I’ll always love you,
Mama, now I’m away I keep on thinking of you,
I think of the days when I was just a kid,
We were so happy together,
Who came for me with such tenderness?
No one, my mama, but you!Mama, oh how I miss you now that we are apart,
Mama, so wonderful,
You’ll always find a place in my heart.
Even that, though, doesn’t say enough–but that is probably because “saying enough” isn’t even possible. I shall let it rest with simple truth, then:
Love you, Mom.