Federico García Lorca

Song of the Barren Orange Tree
 
Woodcutter,
Cut my shadow from me.
Free me from the torment
of seeing myself without fruit.
 
Why was I born among mirrors?
The day walks in circles around me,
and the night copies me
in all its stars.
 
I want to live without seeing myself.
And I will dream that ants
and thistleburrs are my
leaves and my birds
 
Woodcutter.
Cut my shadow from me.
Free me from the torment
of seeing myself without fruit.

 
Translation from Spanish © W. S. Merwin

 

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