RAIN
for G. Jean-Aubrey Bridge upstream bridge downstream the rain’s out for a stroll The river unfolds my wings and birds flash their lights All of us are gloomy and sad All of you are too O when will spring arrive to skate along this walkway Winter passes and passes river downstream river upstream The miller’s wife has seen it pensively wade across Trees shut their umbrellas My hands spread the cold Old birds and stars mistake each others’ nests The rain reaches the opposite shore I will not dismiss it It quickens the mill and regulates the clock Tomorrow the sun will un-rise and hollow drops of rain swoop into the bell for refuge
Francisco Aragón’s most recent book is After Rubén (Red Hen Press, 2020). His books as a translator include four volumes by Francisco X. Alarcón (1954 – 2016). His translations have appeared in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Chain, Chelsea, Jacket, Nimrod, and ZYZZYVA. For more information, visit: http://franciscoaragon.net
Gerardo Diego (1896 – 1987), a member of the “generation of ’27”, was the Spanish poet among his peers who first became interested in avant-garde poetics. The piece published here is from Handbook of Foams (1925). An accomplished pianist, music critic, and editor, he shared the Cervantes Prize—Spanish letters’ highest honor—with Jorge Luis Borges in 1979.
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