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Mother, My Heart lyrics and meaning

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Motula mano, širdela mano, Nesiūk adomaško man šniūrokėlės. Motula mano, tikroji mano, O tik siūk man baltus marškinėlius. Motula mano, širdela mano, Nežadėk manęs jaunam berneliui. Nežadėk manęs jaunam berneliui, Tik guldyk mane balton trūnelėn. Balton trūnelėn aukštam kalnely, Aukštam kalnely, kur bėga kelialis, Iš tolimos šalies, gudo žemelės, Kur guli miega jaunasis bernelis.
Show translation

This translation explains the words; it is not a singable adaptation. Gudai is a historical Lithuanian name for eastern neighbours; the lyric does not identify a modern state.

Lithuanian lyrics

Motula mano, širdela mano, Nesiūk adomaško man šniūrokėlės. Motula mano, tikroji mano, O tik siūk man baltus marškinėlius.

Literal meaning

Mother dear, my dear heart, Do not sew me a damask bodice. Mother dear, my own dear mother, Only sew me a white shirt.

Lithuanian lyrics

Motula mano, širdela mano, Nežadėk manęs jaunam berneliui. Nežadėk manęs jaunam berneliui, Tik guldyk mane balton trūnelėn.

Literal meaning

Mother dear, my dear heart, Do not promise me to a young lad. Do not promise me to a young lad, Only lay me in a white coffin.

Lithuanian lyrics

Balton trūnelėn aukštam kalnely, Aukštam kalnely, kur bėga kelialis, Iš tolimos šalies, gudo žemelės, Kur guli miega jaunasis bernelis.

Literal meaning

In a white coffin on a high hill, On a high hill where the road runs From a distant country, the land of the Gudai, Where the young lad lies asleep.
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Mother, My Heart illustration

Meaning

The address to the mother is exceptionally tender: "motula," "my little heart," "my true one." That tenderness makes the pain of the content even stronger. The daughter does not want to be promised to a young man, because her thought is already turned toward the grave and the dead beloved.

The white shirt and the white trūnelė, or little coffin, create a link between bridal whiteness and funeral whiteness. The song painfully shows how the language of marriage can turn into lament.

Symbols

Motula
An affectionate address to the mother, emphasizing the close and painful bond between mother and daughter.
White shirt
A garment of dressing and transition. Here it belongs more to burial than to marriage.
White trūnelė
An image of a coffin. Its whiteness joins purity, death, and the inversion of bridal symbols.
Gudian land
A distant land where the young beloved lies. It extends loss beyond the home.

History

"Mother, My Heart" has a strong trace in sound archives. In LLTI catalogues, some recordings are classified as song, while others approach lament, making this text important for understanding the boundary between song and lament.

In the Dainava collection, this version speaks in the daughter's voice. She asks her mother not to prepare her for a wedding or a life meant for a young man, but instead to sew white shirts and lay her in a white trūnelė. This is not the joy of marriage, but a song of death and lost love.

Sources