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A Childhood Memory

A cold and dreary afternoon
in winter. The schoolboys
at their studies. The monotony
of rain on the windows.

It’s lesson time. A poster
has a picture of Cain
running away and Abel slain
beside a red stain.

In loud resounding tones
the teacher thunders, an old man,
badly dressed, dry and lean,
holding a book in his hand.

And all the children
recite the lesson in chorus:
"A thousand times a hundred makes one hundred thousand;
a thousand times a thousand makes one million."

A cold and dreary afternoon.
in winter. The schoolboys
at their studies. The monotony
of rain on the windows.

English translation by Paul Archer of the poem Recuerdo Infantil by Antonio Machado.

Recuerdo Infantil

Una tarde parda y fría
de invierno. Los colegiales
estudian. Monotonía
de lluvia tras los cristales.

Es la clase. En un cartel
se representa a Caín
fugitivo, y muerto Abel,
junto a una mancha carmín.

Con timbre sonoro y hueco
truena el maestro, un anciano
mal vestido, enjuto y seco,
que lleva un libro en la mano.

Y todo un coro infantil
va cantando la lección:
«mil veces ciento, cien mil;
mil veces mil, un millón».

Una tarde parda y fría
de invierno. Los colegiales
estudian. Monotonía
de la lluvia en los cristales.

For more translations of poems by Antonio Machado, go to Translations.

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