No one knew that you tormented a hummingbird of love between your teeth
Gacela of Unforeseen Love
Gacela Del Amor Imprevisto
Federico Garcia Lorca
No one understood the perfume
Nadie comprendia el perfume
of the dark magnolia of your womb.
de la oscura magnolia de tu vientre.
No one knew that you tormented
Nadie sabia que martirizabas
a hummingbird of love between your teeth.
uncolibri de amor entre los dientes.
A thousand Persian ponies fell asleep
Mil caballitos persas se dormian
in the moonlit plaza of your forehead,
en la plaza con luna de tu frente,
while through four nights I embraced
mientras que yo enlazaba cuatro noches
your waist, enemy of the snow.
tu cintura, enemiga de la nieve.
Between plaster and jasmines, your glance
Entre yeso y jazmines, tu mirada
was a pale branch of seeds.
era un palido ramo de simientes.
I sought in my heart to give you
Yo busque, para darte, por mi pecho
the ivory letters that say always,
las letras de marfil que dicen siempre,
always, always: garden of my agony,
siempre, siempre: jardin de mi agonia,
your body elusive always,
tu cuerpo fugitivo para simpre,
the blood of your veins in my mouth,
la sangre de tus venas en mi boca,
your mouth already lightless for my death.
tu boca ya sin luz para mi muerte.
...translation by W.S. Merwin