Guillem Cabrer had a second home in Esporles in a country house very close to La Granja, a setting in which some of his verses are set.
To the Archangel and his shadow, beside the spring in La Granja park.
The stream of transparent water suddenly illuminates me
filling my cravings, wounded with love,
and the joy of the splendid message, under Venus’ patronage,
radiates new force which in the air shall rejoice.
The beloved’s clamour, a burin sharpened by the heart,
brings refreshed hope, desire that shall bear fruit;
a sponge in eglantine’s rainy hemisphere
soaks this figure to which Love shall give its sap.
Sonets, 2009
Translated by Rachel Waters.
(Palma, 1944 - 1990). A poet, novelist and playwright, Guillem Cabrer i Borràs was born in Calle Montenegro, in Palma, whose big houses and streets he alludes to in different passages of his work. He trained in Barcelona, where some of his plays were first performed before settling in Mallorca. Here, he lived in a house in the centre of Palma, in Calle de Santa Clara. He admired the work of Miquel Costa i Llobera and Joan Alcover, exponents of the Mallorcan school of literature.
As an author and theatre director, among his seventeen works, staged plays and set designs, he was responsible for staging Aina Sacoma (awarded the 1972 Ciudad de Palma Award) and El Capitel·lo (1981). He stands out particularly for his dramas, farcical monologues, and adaptations of folktales. History and legends were recurrent sources of inspiration. His poetry includes Retrets i pregàries (1984) and Amor somriu de perfil (1988). Two examples of his novels are Merlot (1977) and El Minotaure (1990) and, in the field of theatre, he published a series of theatrical monologues entitled Monòlegs (1980). The village of Esporles was his second home, where he owned a country house very close to La Granja, used as the setting for some of his verses.
La Granja is a country estate house with long traditions in the municipality of Esporles. It stands out particularly for the property’s springs and abundant water supplies. Indeed, water is a predominant feature of its grounds, with its natural springs being taken advantage of at different times. This abundance of water also extends to the village of Esporles, where water supplies have been diverted, stored, shared out and managed over the course of the centuries. Today’s estate can be traced back to a farmstead that later became a Cistercian monastery and then a country house. Today, the house, gardens and museum are open to the public.
