10 LYRICS BY LORCA: 10 EVERY SONG

The last poem in my sequence of ten by Lorca is the simplest but in some ways the most disturbing of the lyrics. It springs its trap in the last line when the relationship between nouns apparently coupled in harmony — song/love, star/time — is suddenly re-evaluated in terms of the final pairing. Remanso can mean a river pool or an oasis of calm, a place of stillness.

Cada canción                             Every song

Cada canción                                       Every song
es un remanso                                     is a still pool
del amor.                                              of love.

Cada lucero                                          Every star
un remanso                                          a still pool
del tiempo.                                           of time.
Un nudo                                               A knot
del tiempo.                                           in time.

Y cada suspiro                                     And every breath
un remanso                                         a still pool
del grito.                                              of shrieking.