Friday, January 25, 2013

Casida: The Reclining Woman



Viewing your nakedness is to remember the Earth,
the smooth Earth, unmarked by horses.
The Earth without a single reed, a pure form
shut off from the future: a zone of silver. 

Viewing your nakedness is to understand the longing 
of the rain as it seeks out soft shapes,
or the fever on the ocean's enormous brow 
and not the glow in its cheeks.

Blood will resound through bedchambers
and come with flashing swords,
but where the toad's heart or the violet 
hide themselves will be unknown to you. 

Your womb is a struggle of roots,
your lips a dawn without demarcation.
Beneath the warm roses of the bed 
dead men groan as they await their turn.

- Federico Garcia Lorca

Translated by Paul Archer