Space in the Clock

I sat
in a space in time
It was a place
of silence
of white silence
a marvelous circle
where the stars
struck the twelve floating
black numbers

Forest of Clocks

I went into the forest
of clocks

Leaves of tick tock
clusters of bells
and under the multiple hour
constellations of pendulums

The black lilies
of the dead hours
and the black lilies
of the young hours
All are the same!
And the gold of love?

There is only one hour
Only one hour
The cold hour

Curve

I leave you with a lily
in your hand
Love of my night!
Little widow of my star
I have found you

Tamer of dark
butterflies
I go on my way
In a thousand years
you will see me again
Love of my night!
On the blue path
tamer of dark
stars
I will go on my way
Until the universe
fits in my heart

Woodcutter

I was out walking
at dusk
Where are you going
they said
I’m hunting bright stars
And when the hills fell asleep
I came back
with all the stars
on my back
The whole white night
in a bundle!

—

Sarah Arvio is the author of night thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis, Sono: Cantos, and Visits from the Seventh. These poems are forthcoming in a new volume of the works of Federico García Lorca, Poet in Spain: New Translations (Alfred A. Knopf, 2017).

Translation © 2017 Sarah Arvio