Chitra Ganesh, How to Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
Bells for the Dead
Translated from the Spanish by Sarah Arvio
In the yellow
towers
bells ring
In the yellow
winds
bells ring and ring
Death goes by
on the road
crowned with withered
orange blossoms
She sings and sings
a song
with her white lute
and sings and sings and sings
In the yellow towers
the bells stop ringing
Wind shapes the dust
into silver prows
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) is considered one of the greatest poets and playwrights of the twentieth century. He was murdered by Fascist forces at the outset of the Spanish Civil War.
Sarah Arvio is the author of night thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis; Sono: Cantos; and Visits from the Seventh (all Alfred A. Knopf). “Bells for the Dead” is forthcoming in a new volume of the works of Federico García Lorca, Poet in Spain: New Translations (Knopf, 2017). (9/2017)
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) is considered one of the greatest poets and playwrights of the twentieth century. He was murdered by Fascist forces at the outset of the Spanish Civil War.
Sarah Arvio is the author of night thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis; Sono: Cantos; and Visits from the Seventh (all Alfred A. Knopf). Forthcoming is a new volume of the works of Federico García Lorca, Poet in Spain: New Translations (Knopf, 2017). (updated 9/2017)
AGNI has published the following translations:
“Bells for the Dead” by Federico García Lorca
“[The mown field]” by Federico García Lorca