A most vivid memory I have of childhood are two bedtime poems my mother would sing to me. They are very short, only a few lines each, but along with the Our Father, these are the words I'd hear as I drifted into sleep.
ALLA ESTA LA LUNA
COMIENDO SU TUNA
TIRANDO LAS CASCARAS
EN UNA LAGUNA
This was more of a spoken poem but it had a definite melody to it.
In terms of form, it's a basic AABA rhyming pattern (i.e. Luna-Tuna-Cascaras-Laguna). The melody and cadence were accentuated by use of the elongated "U" (i.e. Luuuna-Tuuuna...Laguuuna) So it would sound like this:
ALLA ESTA LA LUUUNA
COMIENDO SU TUUUNA
TIRANDO LAS CASCARAS
EN UNA LAGUUUNA
To clarify, the word tuna refers to the bright red fruit that a nopal produces.
The other was more of a melodic jingle. It is more upbeat and jovial and I would consider it to be more kid friendly. The lyrics are as follows:
QUIEN ES EL QUE ANDO AQUI?
FUE CRI-CRI, FUE CRI-CRI.
Y QUIEN ES ESE SENIOR?
EL GRIO CANTOR!
The use of "cri-cri" is a reference to the song of a cricket. Merely reading the words gives a sense of the melody of the jingle. Incidentally, this was my first encounter with odd musical phrasing. The very last line "el grio cantor" is a stark triplet feel that abruptly breaks the 2/4 cadence of the jingle.
I don't know the origin of these song/poems. I imagine they are connected with ranch life as their spacial focus is nature, i.e the moon and the crickets. But that is pure speculation. I once received an email about them. The details of this person are lost to me now, as this was a few years ago, but she wrote to me and asked me about these songs. She too had grown up with them and had not heard them since childhood!
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