Somnambulistic Romance F. G. Lorca - translation

              To Gloria Giner and Fernando de los Rios.


Green, how I love you, green.
Green wind over a fountain,
a distant sail at sea,
a distant horse on the mountain.
Accompanied by the shadow
she sits at her rail, dreaming,
green body and long green hair,
cold silvery Moon is gleaming.
Green, how I love you, green. 
The gypsy sky is unfolding.
She is remaining young
while old stars get older.

            *

Green, how I love you, green.
The giant nets of frost
carry its fish, long shadows,
where the dawn is lost.
A fig tree is rubbing winds
with its sandpaper leaves.
The mountain, wildcat,
arches untamed cliffs.
But who will come and from where?
Dreaming, she leans on the rail.
Green body and long green hair,
the bitter sea and a sail.

“My friend, I would like to trade
my horse for a room and a bed,
my saddle would go for a mirror,
my knife for a loaf of bread.
You see, my friend, I am bleeding,
I came from the Cabra Pass.”
“I would accept your offer
if this house belonged to us
but I am no longer myself
and my roof is the sky and stars.”
“My friend, then let me die here,
let me die in my own bed
made of steel, with white linen
to cover my pale head.
Don’t you see this deep wound
that runs from throat to chest?”
“Three hundred blossoming roses
cover your shirt and your vest.
Your blood keeps coming and oozes
around your fine sash
but I am no longer myself
and all that I own is trash.”
“Then let me go to the rails,
let me go, let me glean
sharp fragments of shattered mirror
at the rails of green.”

            *

Then both of them climbed
to the roof with green rails
leaving a track of tears,
leaving bloodstained trails.
Trembling above the tiles
tiny lanterns of tin
cut the sleepy sunrise
with their sharp tambourine.

            *

Green, how I love you, green.
Green fountain and green wind
that left strange taste in the mouth
of gall, of basil and mint.
“My friend, where is she hiding,
where is your bitter girl?”
“So often she waited for you,
so often she could be seen
here, white face, black hair
at the rails of green!”

           *

Unbroken mirrors of water
cradled the girl with care.
Her eyes are chilling dim silver.
Green body and long green hair.
The icicle of the moon
shined above the square
when drunken Civil Guardsmen
appeared from everywhere.
Green, how I love you, green.
Green wind over a fountain,
a distant sail at sea,
a distant horse on the mountain.