Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Bilingual edition. With their roots in Moorish/Sephardic Jewish formal refrains, the majority of the poems translated here appeared in cancioneros between 1511 and 1605. Chants, lullabies, minstrel choruses, and the oral tradition passed from mouth to mind; when this content began to appear in cancioneros it meant that poets and musicians had taken interest and began to use it for their own inspiration. Though often seemingly simple, these lyrics resonate with depth and an intense feeling for existence, love, and death. Alvaro Cardona-Hine, writer, painter, and composer, was born in Costa Rica in 1926 and came to the United States in his teens. His work has been published in fourteen books of poetry, prose, and translation, and appeared in over sixty literary and national journals and numerous anthologies.