Federico García Lorca Quotes

Out in the sky, no one sleeps. No one, no one.
No one sleeps.
In a graveyard far off there is a corpse
who has moaned for three years
because of an arid landscape in his knee;
and that boy they buried this morning cried so much
it was necessary to call out the dogs to keep him quiet.

Life is not a dream. Careful! Careful! Careful!
We fall down the stairs in order to eat the moist earth
or we climb to the snow's edge with the voices of dead dahlias.
But there is no oblivion; no dream:
only flesh exists. Kisses tie our mouths
in a tangle of new veins,
and those who hurt will hurt without rest
and those who are afraid of death will carry it on their shoulders.

Los caballos negros son.
Las herraduras son negras.
Sobre las capas relucen
manchas de tinta y de cera.
Tienen, por eso no lloran,
de plomo las calaveras.
Con el alma de charol
vienen por la carretera.

Ese es el defecto de las mujeres decentes de estas tierras. ¡No hablar! No hablamos y tenemos que hablar.

Los cien enamorados
duermen para siempre
bajo la tierra seca.
Andalucía tiene
largos caminos rojos.
Córdoba, olivos verdes
donde poner cien cruces
que los recuerden.
Los cien enamorados
duermen para siempre.

-De Profundis

Those hundred lovers
are asleep forever
beneath the dry earth.
Andalusia has
long, red-colored roads.
Córdoba, green olive trees
for placing a hundred crosses
to remember them.
Those hundred lovers
are asleep forever.

-De Profundis

The little boy was looking for his voice.
(The king of the crickets had it.)
In a drop of water
the little boy was looking for his voice.
I do not want it for speaking with;
I will make a ring of it
so that he may wear my silence
on his little finger

In a drop of water
the little boy was looking for his voice.

(The captive voice, far away,
put on a cricket's clothes.)

- The Little Mute Boy
Translated by William S. Merwin

To be silent and consumed by fire is the worst punishment on earth,

El remanso del aire
bajo la rama del eco. El remanso del agua
bajo fronda de luceros. El remanso de tu boca
bajo espesura de besos.

In the green morning
I wanted to be a heart.
A heart.

And in the ripe evening
I wanted to be a nightingale.
A nightingale.

(Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.)

In the vivid morning
I wanted to be myself.
A heart.

And at the evening's end
I wanted to be my voice.
A nightingale.

Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.

- Ditty of First Desire

The evening, lacking intelligent relations, crumbles down into the haze of the horizon.)

Verde que te quiero verde.

Verde viento. Verdes ramas.

El barco sobre la mar

y el caballo en la montaña.

Every song
is the remains
of love.

Every light
the remains
of time.
A knot
of time.

And every sigh
the remains
of a cry.

- Every Song

Pero yo ire,
aunque un sol de alacranes me coma la sien.

La noche no quiere venir para que tu no vengas, ni yo pueda ir. Pero yo iré, aunque un sol de alacranes me coma la sien. Pero tu vendrás con la lengua quemada por la lluvia de sal. El día no quiere venir para que tu no vengas, ni yo pueda ir. Pero yo iré entregando a los sapos mi mordido clavel. Pero tu vendrás por las turbias cloacas de la oscuridad. Ni la noche ni el día quieren venir para que por ti muera y tú mueras por mí.

La luna deja un cuchillo
abandonado en el aire,
que siendo acecho de plomo
quiere ser dolor de sangre.

If lilies would grow
backwards,
if roses would grow
backwards,
if all those roots
could see the stars
& the dead not close
their eyes,
we would become like swans.