Poem #10: Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint by Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca (1898 -1936) is considered the most important Spanish poet and dramatist.  More info on Lorca and some of his poems are available at poets.org.  Enjoy.

Sonnet Of  The Sweet Complaint

Never let me lose the marvel
of your statue-like eyes, or the accent
the solitary rose of your breath
places on my cheek at night.

I am afraid of being, on this shore,
a branchless trunk, and what I most regret
is having no flower, pulp, or clay
for the worm of my despair.

If you are my hidden treasure,
if you are my cross, my dampened pain,
if I am a dog, and you alone my master,

never let me lose what I have gained,
and adorn the branches of your river
with leaves of my estranged Autumn.

(Translated by John K. Walsh and Francisco Aragon)

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