Madruga cast a spell on Bonifacio Byrne

By: Francisco Martinez Chao

Havana Province, Cuba. – During the XIX and early XX centuries, the local bourgeoisie used to spend their holidays in Madruga. This village of Havana Province was renowned in the Cuban archipelago and abroad because of the medical properties of “La Paila” spa.

We read in worn-out files that in the summer of 1868, the wealthy Byrne Puñales family, from Matanzas, lodged in a local leisure villa. They were seeking the healing springs, the exuberant forest and the hospitality of the inhabitants of that intra-mountain town.

The outstanding poet was then 7 years old. They say the boy was exhilarated with the local countryside. He rode a spirited chestnut stallion that his father bought from a farm-owner in Cayajabos, a prosperous nearby village.

Since the Byrnes meant to spend the whole summer in Madruga, mother Gertrudis and her husband agreed to send little Bonifacio to Don Eusebio Nuñez de Villavicencio’s school. He was a teaching and cultural authority in the lands of El Copey, the leafy and flowery tree that used to cast its shade on the healing spring.

Classes ended at noon. After lunch and the customary nap, Bonifacio rode with his parents in the coach along the road that led to the bathhouses with sulfurous waters. He used to get drowsy with the green landscape and the symphony of the birds in the woods.

That hurricane of wild nature instilled in Bonifacio Byrne a deep love for his Homeland and lofty lyricism. Years later he felt compelled to write these verses of Cubanhood and rebelliousness when he saw US flag floating next to ours at the top of El Morro fortress:

“If shredded to pieces/ my flag was some day / our dead would raise their arms / and would still defend it anyway.

Translated by:Pedro A. Fanego

( 19/9/09 11:56 AM )