“De Todas Las Flores” (Of All The Flowers) by Natalia Lafourcade, English translation and meaning

“Of All the Flowers” Lyrics Translation
Album: De Todas Las Flores (Of All the Flowers), 2022
Style: Jazzy, folk, piano and string. Song reminiscing about a happy romance that ended.
Country: Mexico
Listen: YouTube

Translation:

De todas las flores que sembramos
Solo quedan unas encendidas.
Cada mañana se preguntan
Cuándo llegarás para cantarles.

Of all the flowers that we sowed
Only a few remain aflare.
Every morning they ask themselves
When will you come to sing to them.

De todas las lunas que miramos
Solo quedan algunas memorias,
Cuando nos reímos,
Cuando nos tuvimos
En las calles de Madrid,
Borrachos fuimos sin un rumbo fijo.

Of all the moons we watched
Only a few memories remain,
When we laughed,
When we had each other
In the streets of Madrid,
Wandering drunk without a set path.

Cuando nos bailamos,
Cuando nos perdimos
En esa canción que nuestro antiguo mundo
Juntos comprendimos,
En ese jardín de rosas buganvilias
Donde compartimos.

When we danced with each other
When we lost each other
In that song that in our ancient world
We understood together,
In that garden of bougainvillea roses
Where we shared.

De todas las flores que sembramos
Solo quedan unas encendidas
Cada mañana se preguntan
Cuándo llegarás para cantarles

Of all the flowers that we sowed
Only a few remain aflare.
Every morning they ask themselves
When will you come to sing to them.

Las lunas menguantes que nos observaron,
Sobre mares lloran lágrimas sagradas,
Como tu caricia,
Dulce como amarga,
Deliciosas las mañanas,
Laberintos en las madrugadas.

The waning moons that watched us,
Over seas they cry sacred tears,
Like your caress,
As sweet as it was bitter,
Delicious the mornings,
Labyrinths in the early morning hours.

Como tus caricias,
Suave como espina,
Se me va clavando sobre el pecho toda esta melancolía,
En este jardín de rosas buganvilias sin tu compañía

Like your caresses,
Smooth like a thorn,
It starts to cling to my chest, all this melancholy,
In this garden of bougainvillea roses without your company.

[Musical interlude]

De todas las lunas que miramos juntos
Solo quedan algunas memorias,
Cuando nos reímos (ah-ah),
Cuando nos tuvimos (ah-uh),
En las calles de Madrid,
Borrachos fuimos sin un rumbo fijo (ah-uh).

Of all the moons we watched
Only a few memories remain,
When we laughed (ah-ah),
When we had each other (ah-uh),
In the streets of Madrid,
Wandering drunk without a set path (ah-uh).

Cuando nos bailamos (ah-uh)
Cuando nos perdimos (ah-uh)
En esa canción que nuestro antiguo mundo
Juntos comprendimos,
En ese jardín de rosas buganvilias
Donde compartimos,
En ese jardín de rosas buganvilias
Donde nos perdimos.

When we danced with each other (ah-uh)
When we lost each other (ah-uh)
In that song that in our ancient world
We understood together,
In that garden of bougainvillea roses
Where we shared (each other),
In that garden of bougainvillea roses
Where we lost each other.

Translation Notes:

I translated this song because I liked it, then found out later that there exists a YouTube video with a translation. Oh well, my version focuses on the poetic word choices more and I discuss the meaning.

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De todas las flores que sembramos
Solo quedan unas encendidas.

Of all the flowers that we sowed
Only a few remain aflare.

The lyrics use flaming-fire imagery to describe the beautiful and warm bloom of the flowers. The flowers were likely red, orange, and pink.

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Solo quedan algunas memorias,
Cuando nos reímos,
Cuando nos tuvimos

Only a few memories remain,
When we laughed,
When we had each other

The song is about two past lovers and the lyrics describe their relationship, including their romance and demure references to their sexual relationship. “Cuando nos tuvimos” (when we had each other) refers to a time when they held each other and is a very modest and subtle reference to sex. What the singer misses the most is the closeness of their relationship.

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En las calles de Madrid,
[Borrachos] {fuimos} sin <un rumbo> (fijo).

In the streets of Madrid,
{Wandering} [drunk] without <a> (set) <path>.
[Drunk] {we went} without <a path> (set).

The second bold translation is word-for-word literal.

I think the “wandering drunk” line has a dual meaning. The singer is literally remember moments when they would drink alcohol together and pass the time, but is also thinking about the progression of their relationship and how it wasn’t planned out and took a circuitous path, very zig-zaggy and indirect. They were likely friends before they were lovers.

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Spanish:

Cuando nos bailamos,
Cuando nos perdimos
En esa canción que nuestro antiguo mundo
Juntos comprendimos,
En ese jardín de rosas buganvilias
Donde compartimos.

Translation:

When we danced with each other
When we lost each other
In that song that in our ancient world
We understood together,
In that garden of bougainvillea roses
Where we shared.

Meaning:

When we flirted and danced,
When we lost our inhibitions together
In that ancient instinctual rhythm
That we understood together,
In that garden with blooming bougainvillea
Where we shared/confided/grew closer.

I feel that the last line is being very demure. We have the first two lines that use the reflexive verb syntax, “nos [verb]“, which means “[verb] together” or “[verb] each other” or “[verb] with each other“. The last line sounds like it should say “donde nos compartimos” to match the previous pattern, which would then mean “where we shared each other“, a more clearly passionate line. However, the lyrics are modest.

The translation is specifically “that garden… where we shared” because the Spanish lyrics say donde. If the singer intended “that garden… that we shared” then the Spanish lyrics would say que instead of donde.

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Como tu caricia,
Dulce como amarga

Like your caress,
As sweet as it was bitter

Como tus caricias,
Suave como espina

Like your caresses,
Smooth like a thorn

Here we start understanding how the singer feels about the end of the relationship. Previously, they were reminiscing about the good times. Now the memories of their lover’s sweet moments are tinged with bitterness. Their touch was “smooth like a thorn”, safe and nice until it was unexpectedly painful at the end.

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Se me va clavando sobre el pecho toda esta melancolía,
En este jardín de rosas buganvilias sin tu compañía

It starts to cling to my chest, all this melancholy,
In this garden of bougainvillea roses without your company.

Word-for-word translation:

[Se me (va) clavando] <sobre> el pecho {toda esta (melancolía)},
En este jardín de rosas buganvilias [[sin tu compañía]]

[It (starts to) cling] <to> my chest, {all this (melancholy)},
In this garden of bougainvillea roses [[without your company]].

The singer is visiting this familiar garden and feels the emptiness of what they lost. The verb clavar means “to cling” and has connotations of something being clawed or nailed in. This a poetic word choice again reminding us of their lover’s touches, smooth like a thorn, happy until not.