Federico García Lorca, translated by Rebecca Seiferle


Gacela del amor imprevista


Nadie comprendía el perfume
de la oscura magnolia de tu vientre.
Nadie sabía que martirizabas
un colibrí de amor entre los dientes.

Mil caballitos persas se dormían
en la plaza con luna de tu frente,
mientras que yo enlazaba cuatro noches
tu cintura, enemiga de la nieve.

Entre yeso y jazmines, tu mirada
era un pálido ramo de simientes.
Yo busqué para darte por mi pecho
las letras de marfil que dicen siempre.

Siempre, siempre: jardín de mi agonía,
tu cuerpo fugitivo para siempre,
la sangre de tus venas en mi boca,
tu boca ya sin luz para mi muerte.


Gacela of Unexpected Love


No one understood the perfume
of the dark magnolia of your womb.
No one knew that you martyred
love's hummingbird between your teeth.

A thousand little Persian horses slept
in the plaza with the moon of your forehead,
while I braided four nights
to your waist, enemy of the snow.

Between gypsum and jasmines, your gaze
was a pale branch of seeds.
I searched my heart, to give you,
the ivory letters that say always.

Always, always: garden of my agony,
your body fugitive always,
the blood of your veins in my mouth,
your mouth already without light for my death.


Casida de las palomas oscuras

A Claudio Guillén


Por las ramas del laurel
vi dos palomas oscuras.
La una era el sol,
la otra la luna.
Vecinita; les dije:
¿dónde está mi sepultura?
En mi cola, dijo el sol.
En mi garganta, dijo la luna.
Y yo que estaba caminando
con la tierra por la cintura
vi dos águilas de nieve
y una muchacha desnuda.
La una era la otra
y la muchacha era ninguna.
Aguilitas; les dije:
¿dónde está mi sepultura?
En mi cola. dijo el Sol;
en mi garganta, dijo la Luna.
Por las ramas del laurel
vi dos palomas desnudas.
La una era la otra
y las dos eran ninguna.


Casida of the Dark Doves

To Claudio Guillén


Through branches of laurel
I saw two dark doves.
One was the sun,
the other, the moon.
Little neighbors, I asked them:
Where is my grave?
In my tail, said the sun.
In my throat, said the moon.
And I, who was traveling
with the earth at my waist,
saw two eagles of snow
and one naked girl.
One was the other,
and the girl was no one.
Little eagles, I asked them:
Where is my grave?
In my tail, said the Sun.
In my throat, said the Moon.
Through branches of laurel
I saw two naked doves.
One was the other,
and both were no one.

 

From The Dream of Apples: Selected Poems of Federico García Lorca, translated by Rebecca Seiferle,
recipient of the Stephen Mitchell Prize for excellence in translation (Green Linden Press, 2024)

 

Federico García Lorca is the preeminent Spanish poet and playwright of the 20th century. From the beginning, his work was remarkably versatile, as he published in a variety of genres. His first poetry collection, Libro de poemas (1921), was preceded by Impresiones y Paisajes (1919) a work of prose, recounting his travels as a college student throughout Spain, and his first play El Maleficio de la mariposa, was produced the following year. In his lifetime, Lorca published five poetry collections, but a number of celebrated works, including Diván del Tamarit and Poeta en Nueva York were to be published posthumously and in other countries, as the works were viewed as too controversial in Francoist Spain. Published in 1928, his Gypsy Ballads made him famous in Spain and lead to international acclaim. In 1936, Lorca was killed by Fascist forces, and, following his death, his books were publicly burned in Granada and further publication banned. In the decades following, his works have been translated into many languages where they have continued to influence subsequent generations of artists in many fields. At the Prince Asturias Awards in 2011, Leonard Cohen spoke of his “deep association and confraternity with the poet Federico García Lorca” and how “he gave me permission to find a voice, to locate a voice; that is, to locate a self, a self that that is not fixed, a self that struggles for its own existence.”


Rebecca Seiferle has published four poetry collections. Wild Tongue won the Grub Street National Poetry Prize, and Bitters won the Western States Book Award. She is a noted translator from the Spanish, having published translations of César Vallejo’s Trilce and The Black Heralds. Her translations of various poets are included in The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry and Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry. Her essay “Black Cactus Open in Reeds,” on Federico García Lorca appeared in Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries, edited by Martha Collins and Kevin Prufer. She has been awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry, an Arizona Commission on the Arts Research and Development Grant, and was Tucson Poet Laureate for two terms from 2012–16.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2024

Also by Rebecca Seiferle: "If the Seasons Are Broken"