A Young Woman Brought the First Flowers

A translation of an essay which is also a lamentation, taken from the book Otras cartas a Milena (Other Letters to Milena), by Reina María Rodríguez. Rodríguez writes about the exile and death of poets from the perspective of one who has not literally departed her own nation except for short trips, which have allowed her to encounter Cuban writers living abroad. Her reflections on loss, mortality and geography eventually focus on the figure of exiled writer Heberto Padilla, describing his desire to return to Cuba for a visit. Padilla passed away without receiving permission to return; Rodríguez challenges barriers blocking the return of the exiled writer. Her essay would ¨return¨ him to Cuba in textual form when this collection was published in Havana in 2003.