Clara Santi Grefa, "Waraga Sisa Warmi Song."

My grandmother used to sing this. She was Josefina, a Canelos woman. She used to sing the Manioc Flower, and together with it, the Parkia Flower, which she sang to my grandfather. My grandmother used to say, “I sing to the parkia flower, daughter.” She said this because when the pods dry and burst, their seeds spread and grow all over the forest. They multiply. Do they multiply? Yes, they multiply. “That parkia tree has very strong wood,” she used to say. That is how she sang. So people would ask, “Does it have many seedlings?” Yes, many seedlings. “And if a woman sang this, would she also have many?” Uh-huh. Many children. Yes, many children. “I am increasing the whole forest,” she used to sing. When she said this, my grandfather would hug her and cry. She died first. My grandmother died in the river. She was crossing the river in a canoe; she had gone to bring food. An anaconda pulled the canoe over. In the old days, she would go out with a dog, lighting a fire at the bow of the canoe and setting fire to a termite nest. She would set out like that, wrapped in a cloud of smoke. My grandfather said, “Daughter, you can’t go. Only grandma will go to bring the yuca back already peeled.” But I said, “No, grandpa, I am going to bring papaya.” My grandfather was against it. Otherwise, I would have died as a child along with my grandmother. That is how it was. She used to sing the parkia flower in the manioc gardens. What time would she sing it? In the mornings. She would go out, light the fire, and then, as she began to work, she would sing the parkia flower. “I stand flourishing,” she would say. When the parkia pods dry, burst open, and their seeds fall, I stand multiplying. So, like the waranga, she would increase? With many children? Yes, many children. And she was also strong? Strong. Was her body strong? Her body was strong. Like the waranga tree, her body was strong. Yes, a strong body, full of life. She might have lived a long time, but an anaconda took my grandmother. I think your father-in-law knows that story because he knew my grandfather, Asua Juanzhu, but this other grandfather, I do not know. She sang the Waranga Flower beautifully. I will sing it, but that is all I am going to sing. No more. Parkia Flower Woman Parkia Flower Woman, like the parkia tree: when its seeds dry, it bears pods, like the Inga trees. Parkia Flower Woman, like the parkia tree, when its seeds dry it will bear beans like the Inga trees. When their season comes and their seed pods burst, I will stand multiplying the entire forest. I stand multiplying. My woman, a parkia flower woman. I stand flowering. Men will desire me! Will they not? I will crown my husband taking my flowers, Parkia Flower Woman. Taking parkia flowers, I will just stand sweeping my husband (with flowers). Daughter, dear granddaughter, this is how your grandmother sings. You too should sing, planting your flowers, little granddaughter. Flying over the whole forest like a parrot (spreading) waranga seed pods, I stand. Your grandmother, I stand. I stand. Flying over the whole forest, I stand increasing its seeds. Parkia Flower Woman. I am a Parkia Flower Woman. Ay!"