“Ghazal of the Flight” by Federico García Lorca

“Ghazal of the Flight” is my translation of “Gacela de la Huida,” a poem from Federico García Lorca’s Diván del Tamarit.

My ghazal “American Boy” samples a line from “Ghazal of the Flight,” whose narrator has lost himself “many times in the sea, with an ear filled with fresh cut flowers, with language full of love and agony…”

Agha Shahid Ali, the Kashmiri-American poet who taught English-language poets the traditional ghazal, introduced this sampling technique as a way for the poet to honor and acknowledge literary forebears.

“Ghazal of the Flight,” an English Translation of “Gacela de la Huida”

I’ve lost myself many times in the sea
with an ear filled with fresh cut flowers,
with language full of love and agony.
Many times I’ve lost myself in the sea,
as I lose myself in the hearts of a few children.

There is no night that, by giving a kiss,
does not feel the smile of the faceless people,
nor is there anyone who, by touching a newborn,
forgets the still horse skulls.

Because roses search your forehead
for a hard landscape of bone
and a man’s hands make no more sense
than to imitate the roots beneath the earth.

As I lose myself in the heart of some children,
I have lost myself many times in the the sea.
Ignorant of the water, I am going to seek
a death by a light that eats me up alive.

by Federico García Lorca,
From Diván del Tamarit (1934)
Translated by E.A. Melino

Back to “American Boy”

Selections from Lorca’s Divan del Tamarit

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“Gacela de la Huida,” the Spanish Original of “Ghazal of the Flight”

Me he perdido muchas veces por el mar
con el oído lleno de flores recién cortadas,
con la lengua llena del amor y de agonía.
Muchas veces me he perdido por el mar,
como me pierdo en el corazón de algunos niños.

No hay noche en que, al dar un beso,
no sienta la sonrisa de las gente sin rostro,
ni hay nadie que, al tocar un recién nacido,
olvide las inmóviles calaveras de caballo.

Porque las rosas buscan en la frente
un duro paisaje de hueso
y las manos del hombre no tienen más sentido
que imitar a las raíces bajo tierra.

Como me pierdo en el corazón de algunos niños,
me he perdido muchas veces por el mar.
Ignorante del agua, voy buscando
una muerte de luz que me consuma.

by Federico García Lorca,
From Diván del Tamarit (1934)

Back to “American Boy”

Selections from Lorca’s Divan del Tamarit

Image: “Federico García Lorca: From a mural on a barn in his birthplace, Fuente Vaqueros, Andalucía, Spain.” Photos by Spencer Means. Used under CC BY-SA 2.0 License.

To see the mural and its detail images as well as more photos from Andalucía, Provence and other places in Europe and the U.S., visit Spencer’s Flickr Page.