Spanish poet & playwright (1898-1936)
The bride, the white bride
today a maiden,
tomorrow a wife.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
Fire is fed by fire.
The same small flame destroys
Two stalks of wheat at once.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
Never let me lose the marvel
of your statue eyes or the accent
that by night the solitary rose of your breath
places on my cheek.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint"
The groom
is like a flower of gold.
When he walks,
blossoms at his feet unfold.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
You have always been smart. You have always looked for the worst in people, and have been quick to notice when people are up to no good... But in the case of your children, you are blind.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
The House of Bernarda Alba
To see you naked is to recall the Earth.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Casida de la Mujer Tendida"
Just as the light and weightless vegetation of saltpeter floats over the old walls of houses as soon as the owner gets careless, so the literary vocation springs up in you.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
letter to Jose Bello, summer 1925
Ever since I got married I've been thinking night and day about whose fault it was, and every time I think about it, out comes a new fault to eat up the old one; but always there's a fault left.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
A dead man in Spain is more alive than a dead man anywhere in the world.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Theory and Play of the Duende", A Poet in New York
My tongue is pierced with glass.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
All one's personality is embedded in gloves and hats after they've been good and used. Show me a glove and I'll tell you the character of its owner.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
letter to Ana Maria Dali, autumn 1925
I'm satisfied. I am progressively making my life and my name in the surest and purest manner. If I catch on in the theater, as I think I will, all the doors will gladly open wide for me.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
letter to his family, November 1924
But hurry, let's entwine ourselves as one,
our mouth broken, our soul bitten by love,
so time discovers us safely destroyed.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Sonnet of the Garland of Roses"
I know there is no straight road
No straight road in this world
Only a giant labyrinth
Of intersecting crossroads
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Floating Bridges"
Lydia's madness is a watery madness, gentle, full of seagulls and lobsters.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
letter to Ana Maria Dali, autumn 1925
For each kiss I gave you
a huge cluster of tears!
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Abandoned"
Even money, which shines so much, spits sometimes.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
Blood Wedding
It's a trick, love's word, a broken mirror, footsteps in the water. Then you'd leave me in the tomb again, just as everyone does when trying to convince those listening to them that true love is impossible.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
The Public
I'll always be happy if they'd leave me alone in that delightful and unknown furthest corner, apart from struggles, putrefactions and nonsense; the ultimate corner of sugar and toast, where the mermaids catch the branches of the willows and the heart opens to a flute's sharpness.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
letter to Melchor Fernandez Almagro, autumn 1924
Devoutly the teachers point out huge fumigated domes;
but beneath the statues there's no love,
no love beneath the eyes set in crystal.
Love is there, in flesh ripped by thirst,
in the tiny hut struggling against the flood;
love is there, in ditches where snakes of hunger wrestle,
in the sad sea that rocks dead gulls,
and in the darkest stinging kiss under pillows.
FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
"Cry to Rome", A Poet in New York