Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado

Songs

S O N G S i The huge sea drives against the flowering mountain. The comb of my honeybees holds tiny grains of salt. ii Not far from the black water. Odor of the sea and of jasmine flowers. Night of Malaga. in The spring has arrived. No one knows what happened. IV The spring has arrived. Snow-white hallelujahs from the flowering blackberry bushesl v Full moon, full moon, so great, so round in this tranquil night of March, honeycomb of light that the white bees have madel VI Night of Castille; the poem is spoken, or, better, not spoken. When everyone is sleeping, I'll go to the window. [i35] VII Canta, canta en claro rimo, el almendro en verde rama y el doble sauce del rio. Canta de la parda encina la rama que el hacha corta, y la flor que nadie mira. De los perales del huerto la blanca flor, la rosada flor del melocotonero. Y este olor que arranca el viento mojado a los habares en flor. VIII La fuente y las cuatro acacias en flor de la plazoleta. Ya no quema el sol. [Tardecita alegre! Canta, ruisenor. Es la misma hora de mi corazon. IX iBlanca hospederia, celda de viajero, con la sombra mia! x El acueducto romano — canta una voz de mi tierra y el querer que nos tenemos, chiquilla, jvaya firmeza! [136] VII Sing, sing in crisp sound the almond tree leafed out, and the double willows by the river. Sing of the ordinary oak, the branch cut off by the ax, and the flower no one looks at. And the white blossom on the pear tree, the rosy flower of the peach tree. And this perfume which the damp wind is pulling from the blossoming bean patch. VIII The fountain and the four acacias in flower in the garden. The sun doesn't burn now. Wonderful dusk! Nightingale, sing. The same hour has come inside my body. IX White inn, the traveler's room, with my shadow! "The Roman aqueduct" —murmurs a voice in my dialect— "and the love we have for each other, my darling, there is steadiness!" [^37] x XI A las palabras de amor les sienta bien su poquito de exageracion. XII En Santo Domingo, la misa mayor. Aunque me declan hereje ymason, rezando contigo, jcuanta devocion! XIII Hay fiesta en el prado verde — pifano y tambor —. Con su cayado florido y abarcas de oro vino un pastor. Del monte baje, solo por bailar con ella; al monte me tornare. En los arboles del huerto hay un ruisenor; canta de noche y de dia, canta a la luna y al sol. Ronco de cantar: al huerto vendra la nina y una rosa cortara. Entre las negras encinas, hay una fuente de piedra, y un cantarillo de barro que nunca se llena. Por el encinar, con la blanca luna, ella volvera. [138] XI In words of love a tiny bit of exaggeration feels right. XII High mass in Santo Domingo. Though they call me heretic and Mason, praying with you, what devotion! XIII There is a fiesta in the green field —fife and drum. With his flowery shepherd crook and gold sandals a shepherd came. I came down from the mountain, solely to dance with her; and I'll return to the mountain. There is a nightingale in the garden trees; it sings night and day, it sings to the moon and the sun. Hoarse from singing, it sings; the girl will come to the garden and pick a rose. Among the black oaks there is a stone fountain, and a tiny jug of clay there which never gets full. She will return through the black oaks when the white moon comes out. [»S9l XIV Contigo en Valonsadero, fiesta de San Juan, manana en la Pampa, del otro lado del mar. Guardame la fe, que yo volvere. Manana sere pampero, y se me ira el corazon a orillas del Alto Duero. xv Mientras danzais en corro, nifias, cantad: Ya estan los prados verdes, ya vino abril galan. A la orilla del rio, por el negro encinar, sus abarcas de plata hemos visto brillar. Ya estan los prados verdes, ya vino abril galan. [140] XIV With you in Valonsadero, fiesta of St. John, tomorrow...