The collected poem, by Josep Ponç y Gallarza, is an approximation to the olive tree, so representative of this region, as a historical testimony of the passage of time.

Tell me, old olive tree,

As I sit taking my breath on this rock,

Stories from yesteryear

Which I can see written on your trunk. I have come to lie back

On your naked roots, sad through yearning,

So that you give me back

something, since I have lost hope. Your delicate foliage,

under the blue sky the sea breeze blows,

Is the image of peace,

Envy of all of the joys of the city. Your green and white branches

Cover you like angel's hair;

And one broken branch

Is missing a splinter, taken by the wind. When young and supple,

grew on the edge of the hill,

Your branches were grazed

By the sickle of a son of Mohammed. The Arab and his household,

Smelling your flowers in May would head out,

And your olives on the ground

Would be collected by his sons in the evening...

«L'olivera mallorquina» Poesies, 1882

Translated by Richard Mansell. Performed by Catalina Solivellas.

(Sant Andreu del Palomar, Barcelonès 1823 – Palma, 1894). Pons i Gallarza was a romantic poet, and studied Philosophy and Law at the University of Barcelona, working as a lawyer at one point. He also taught Rhetoric and Poetics at the University. In 1861 he asked to move to Majorca to be Professor of History and Geography at the Institut Balear. He founded the Ateneu Balear, which brought together people who shared the desire to improve the situation of islands, both economically (especially with regards to agriculture) and culturally. The Ateneu also served to promote the ideals of cultural and political Catalanism. He also contributed greatly to the appearance of magazines such as “Museo Balear” and “Revista Balear”. He is considered one of the foremost romantic poets of our country. Amongst the concerns and interests present in his poetry, there are world expositions and his position against bullfighting, which must have been more than a little unusual at the time. In his poem “Lo treball de Catalunya” (The work of Catalonia) he explains the principles of regeneration and a love for progress from a conservative point of view. Following Horatian principles he presents the peasantry of the country as a depository of the traditional virtues of the Catalan people. The poem here approaches the notion of an olive tree as a historical witness of the passing of time, leading to the poet’s own time. It should be noted that he taught Costa i Llobera, who to a certain extent carried on his legacy of representing the landscape “El pi de Formentor”.

Caimari was a farmstead during Moorish times. Although nowadays the road to the mountains is bordered by olive trees, it is probably a much smaller number than what was required over many centuries of exporting olive oil. This was most probably developed from the Catalan conquest, until the point, especially between the 17th and 20th centuries, that oil became one of Majorca's main exports. After years of neglect, olive cultivation is making a comeback and people are once again interested in the more than pleasant smell and taste of Majorcan oil. Majorcan oil can compete on a level with the other oils produced around the Mediterranean, all of them with their own features. In the poem "L'olivera mallorquina", Pons i Gallarza pays tribute to the tree and it bears witness to the passage of centuries, the island's historical events from Moorish occupation until his own time, following Romantic models of praising the rural landscape in the face of urban uproar. He achieves a balance between the lyrical (evoking the passage of time and the fleetingness of life) and the epic (echoing medieval events such as the conquest of the island) with the image of the tree as an immutable symbol.