A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Che Gelida Manina (Jello Aria)
Saturday, October 13, 2001
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CHE GELIDA MANINA

I ate your gelatin Christina
It was delicious and so cold
I love raspberry with little Chinese oranges.

It always makes me think of our mother
And how she loved to eat supper in the garden
She'd sit down by the flowers,
Eating oranges in red Jello
Our mother dear
All I wanted was to be like mother.

Oranges, walnuts
Green grapes and sliced bananas.
Her blouse and long blue skirt
Perfume. The smell of lilacs.
Sunset.

The crème brulee was lovely
And the lemon custard
It was such a lovely evening
With your friends and family
Your home is simply lovely.
But I wish that she were here
To serve her bright red Jello
In her tidy garden among the white begonias

In nineteen sixty- seven
The smell of lilac perfume
Mother and her daughters
Together in the evening
Forever and forever.

Through all life's cold dark days of sorrow
I think of her in summer
Young, the age I am now she said "My darlings,
How lucky we are to be here
I love you, my dear.