The Dialogue

An Unexpected Gift


Going through a stack of music books, in my office, I came across a book with my Father’s handwriting.

It is an instructional book, teaching one how to be able to play popular Latin music, on the guitar.

Though the copyright for the book is 1974, this edition was published in Puerto Rico, in 1981. I found a notation inside the book, the chords for the beginning of Guantanamera; the good Cuban that he was; I continued leafing through the book and found an unexpected gift.

Two sheets of papers with the typed words scored, in my Father’s handwriting; he was obviously wanting to learn how to play this song. It is a song I had never heard of, and yes, I initially thought he might have written it.

YouTube to the rescue; my Father was not the author, but oh my once the video started to play, I so understood why he would have wanted to perform this music. It is beautiful and it so captures the passion of who he was; the lyrics are also quite perfect.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_aqUdlkDig


Manos Cariñosas


Manos cariñosas, manos de Jesús,
manos que llevaron la pesado cruz.
Manos que supieron sólo hacer el bien,
¡Gloria a esas manos! ¡Aleluya amén!
Blancas azucenas, lirios de amor,
fueron esas manos de mi Redentor.
Manos que a los ciegos dieron la visión
con el real consuelo de su gran perdón.
Manos que supieron calmar el dolor,
¡Oh manos divinas de mi Redentor!
Que multiplicaron los peces y el pan,
manos milagrosas que la vida dan.
Manos que sufrieron el clavo y la cruz;
Manos redentoras de mi buen Jesús.
De esas manos bellas yo confiado estoy,
ellas van guiando, pues al cielo voy.
¡Oh Jesús tus manos yo las ví en visión
y vertí mi llanto con el corazón;
Ví sus dos heridas y la sangre ví
que tú derramaste por salvarme a mí.
~ M. Alfredo Colom ~

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *