Night of sleepless love
A full moon, the night above the two of us,
I began to cry and you were laughing.
Your disdain was a god; my complaints
were instants of time and doves in a chain.
The night beneath us. A crystal of pain,
you cried deep into the distance.
My sorrow gathered its suffering
above your fragile heart of sand.
Dawn united us on the bed,
mouths pressed to the freezing cold spurt
of endless blood spilling out.
And the sun entered through closed shutters
and the coral of light opened its branches
over my shrouded heart.
English translation by Paul Archer of Lorca's Noche del amor insomne.
For more translations from Lorca's Sonetos del amor oscuro, go to Sonnets of Dark Love. |