I want to sleep and dream of apples
To escape the unquiet of these graveyards.
I want to sleep and dream of that boy
Who wished to cut his heart on the open sea.
Don’t tell me the dead don’t lose their blood;
Or that the rotting mouth still asks for water.
I won’t watch the martyrs give way to grass,
Nor see the moon with serpent’s mouth
Eat the light of dawn.
I want to sleep a while.
I want to dream one moment,
Or perhaps, one century;
But I want all to know I haven’t gone—
That my lips are a stable of gold,
That I am the little friend of the West wind,
And that I am the immense shadow of my own tears.
Cover me with a veil at dawn,
To hide the ants unleashed upon my corpse.
And wet my shoes with hard water
So the scorpion’s pincers slip.
Because I want to sleep, and dream of apples
To learn a lament that will brush me clean of earth;
Because I want to live with that shrouded boy
Who wished to cut his heart on the open sea.
—Federico García Lorca, translated by Amy Rodriguez
Quiero dormir el sueño de las manzanas
alejarme del tumulto de los cementerios.
Quiero dormir el sueño de aquel niño
que quería cortarse el corazón en alta mar.
No quiero que me repitan que los muertos no pierden la sangre;
que la boca podrida sigue pidiendo agua.
No quiero enterarme de los martirios que da la hierba,
ni de la luna con boca de serpiente
que trabaja antes del amanecer.
Quiero dormir un rato,
un rato, un minuto, un siglo;
pero que todos sepan que no he muerto;
que haya un establo de oro en mis labios;
que soy un pequeño amigo del viento Oeste;
que soy la sombra inmensa de mis lágrimas.
Cúbreme por la aurora con un velo,
porque me arrojará puñados de hormigas,
y moja con agua dura mis zapatos
para que resbale la pinza de su alacrán.
Porque quiero dormir el sueño de las manzanas
para aprender un llanto que me limpie de tierra;
porque quiero vivir con aquel niño oscuro
que quería cortarse el corazón en alta mar.
—Federico García Lorca, traducido por Amy Rodriguez
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Amy Rodriguez teaches English literature and composition at Westchester Community College. She recently curated an interactive gallery event titled “Love: Lost and Found” for Scintilla, a Bushwick-based arts and literature showcase. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Yale University and will begin her Ph.D. this fall.
Federico García Lorca was one of the preeminent poets and dramatists of 20th-century Spain. His “Ghazal” series is from the Diván del Tamarit. He was executed by Nationalist forces in 1936.