SPAIN
“Romance sonámbulo” Federico García Lorca
Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas le están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.
*
Verde que te quiero verde.
Grandes estrellas de escarcha,
vienen con el pez de sombra
que abre el camino del alba.
La higuera frota su viento
con la lija de sus ramas,
y el monte, gato garduño,
eriza sus pitas agrias.
¿Pero quién vendrá? ¿Y por dónde...?
Ella sigue en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
soñando en la mar amarga.
Few lines about the poem
"Romance Sonámbulo" is one of Lorca's most popular poems, and it magnificently represents his passion for this country, its people, and for the supreme power of the imagination. It's designed to shake things up, and go against the grain of traditional poetry.
Published in 1928, just eight years before his death, this poem appeared as part of a collection of work that celebrated the passion and intensity of the gypsy people who, even today, dance in the hillside caves around Lorca's hometown of Granada.
There's passion, there's love, disappointment, frustration, the threat of violence, and the promise of salvation
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