Song

If my voice dies on land,
take it down to the sea
and leave it on the shore.

Take it down to the sea
and make it captain
of a white man-of-war.

Honor it with
a sailor’s medal:
over its heart an anchor,
and on the anchor a star,
and on the star the wind,
and on the wind a sail!

poem by Rafael Alberti, translated by Mark Strand
Added by Dan Costinaş
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Enemy Moon

Since I was blinded by the stars crashing in against my breast,
I fled, hurling myself backwards into the skies from the past.
Ten autumnal kings rose up against me.
Angels and treachery always accelerate downfalls.
A leaf, a man.
In your orbit my blood was burning, enemy moon.

Save me from years in a nebulous state,
from mirrors that pronounce apparel and vanished pages,
from stamped hands in yawning memories.
Flee!
They're burying us in enemy wind.

My soul has forgotten the rules.

poem by Rafael Alberti from Concerning The Angels (1929), translated by Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno
Added by Dan Costinaş
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The Ballad Of What The Wind Said

Eternity may well
Be only a river
Be a forgotten horse
And the cooing
Of a lost dove.

As for the man who distances
Himself from men, the wind comes
Telling him other things now
Opening his ears
And eyes to other things.

Today, I distanced myself from men,
And alone, in this gully,
I began to gaze at the river,
And saw a horse all alone,
And listened all lonely
To the cooing
Of a lost dove.

[...] Read more

poem by Rafael Alberti from Ballads and Songs of the Paraná (1953)
Added by Dan Costinaş
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