Day 647 of the daily poems and the Music theme continues but will soon come to an end. Our translator poet Timothy Adès brings us Lorca’s poignant epitaph for Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Epitaph for Isaac Albéniz
F. García Lorca: translation by Timothy Adès
This stone we witness standing tall
on grass of death and dismal clay
guards shadow-lyre and mellow sun,
the spilled and lonely urn of song.
By streams Granada rears her wall;
your shadow moans through gold of day.
From salt Cadiz your hoofbeats run,
Andalucían, pounding strong.
Sweet one, small-handed one, who died!
Music and goodness intertwined!
The great of heart, the goshawk-eyed!
Sleep, skein of snow, sky unconfined,
dream, winter-light, dream, summer-grey,
sleep as your old life slips away!
F. García Lorca: translation by Timothy Adès
Lorca recited his poem at the dedication of a statue of Albéniz
in the cemetery of Montjuic, Barcelona, on December 14th, 1935