Como Santa María guardou sas relicas que se non danassen entr' outras muitas que se danaron.
| Line | Refrain | Metrics | |
| 1 | Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude | 13' A | |
| 2 | sas relicas per que muitos receben saúde. | 13' A | |
| Stanza I | |||
| 3 | Desto direi un miragre grand' a maravilla, | 13' b | |
| 4 | que al Rei Don Afonsso avẽo. En Sevilla | 13' b | |
| 5 | foi guardar relicas da Madre de Déus e Filla | 13' b | |
| 6 | e de santos; e direi com', e Déus i m' ajude. | 13' A | |
| Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude... | |||
| Stanza II | |||
| 7 | As relicas éran muitas de Santa María | 13' b | |
| 8 | e de santos e de santas, por que Déus fazía | 13' b | |
| 9 | miragres; e el Rei ensserró-as aquel día | 13' b | |
| 10 | e foi-s' end', e nonas mandou catar amïúde. | 13' A | |
| Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/257 | |||
| Stanza III | |||
| 11 | Foi-s' el Rei pera Castéla u morou déz anos; | 13' b | |
| 12 | e pois vẽo a Sevilla, achou grandes danos | 13' b | |
| 13 | nas relicas, pero siían envóltas en panos; †CSM 257:13In this line and line 16, synaeresis is required in the same word, siían. Here the compressed metrical syllable falls on just a single short note, but the musical result is quite acceptable. See also CSM 84:27 which has synaeresis in the same word. | 13' b | .o |
| 14 | mas a Virgen precïosa ao séu recude. | 13' A | |
| Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude... | |||
| Stanza IV | |||
| 15 | Toda-las outras relicas achou mal danadas | 13' b | |
| 16 | e as arcas en que siían mal desbaratadas; †CSM 257:16See the note to line 13. In this case the compressed metrical syllable happens to fall on a descending plica .ron so the three natural syllables come out in the singing. | 13' b | .ron |
| 17 | mais as de Santa María éran ben guardadas, | 13' b | |
| 18 | ca o dano das sas cousas mui ben se sacude. | 13' A | |
| Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude... | |||
| Stanza V | |||
| 19 | Quand' aquesto viu el Rei Don Afonsso, loores | 13' b | |
| 20 | déu grandes a Jesú-Cristo, Sennor dos sennores; | 13' b | |
| 21 | e houve des i da Virgen tan grandes amores, | 13' b | |
| 22 | que cuido que o coraçôn nunca ende mude. | 13' A | |
| Ben guarda Santa María pola sa vertude... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/257 | |||
Footnotes
| Line 13: | In this line and line 16, synaeresis is required in the same word, siían. Here the compressed metrical syllable falls on just a single short note, but the musical result is quite acceptable. See also CSM 84:27 which has synaeresis in the same word. |
| Line 16: | See the note to line 13. In this case the compressed metrical syllable happens to fall on a descending plica .ron so the three natural syllables come out in the singing. |
Footnotes
| E1: | The stave break here in the manuscript is after this plica, but before the final syllable of Afonsso that belongs with it. It all works out by the end of the line though. |
Manuscript references
External links marked 
are to facsimiles on Greg Lindahl's Cantigas de Santa Maria website.
| [E] | 257 | viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/463small.htmlExternal link |
| [F] | 44 |
Oxford CSM Database record
External link to poem data: CSM 257http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=257
Links to the Oxford database are provided with the kind permission of the project team. When planning a concert or recording, I would recommend that you use (and credit) my more pragmatic texts and supporting materials in the preparation of your performance, but that you request permission from the Oxford database team to reproduce (and credit) their own critically edited texts in your programme or liner notes, as these adhere to stricter criteria that keep them closer to the original sources, and undoubtedly have the greater academic authority.
Metrical summary
Refrain
| 13' 13' |
Stanzas
| 13' 13' 13' 13' |
Rhyme
AA / bbbA| R | I | II | III | IV | V | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ude | |||||
| b | iʎa | i.a | anos | adas | oɾes | |
Estimated performance times
| Average syllables / min. | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Very slow | 50 | 8:57 |
| Slow | 100 | 4:28 |
| Medium | 150 | 2:59 |
| Fast | 200 | 2:14 |
| Very fast | 250 | 1:47 |
These are very approximate total times for a full sung (or spoken) performance of all stanzas with all repeats of the refrain. Note that the speed is in average syllables per minute, and no particular mensural interpretation is assumed. More ornamented music will reduce the syllabic speed considerably. Remember also to add time for instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes.
Total syllables: 448
