Whatever You Say
1951
Did you think perhaps that it was only to please myself
that I acted the oaf and the grouch?
That I sit here at night for no hidden reason
in the freezing cold
counting the stars like lice… What do you say?
Didn’t it occur to you that there must be some secret reason
for all this strangeness, for so much blackness?
Don’t tell me, to please you, that it was by chance they began
licking and licking the dried blood
of Federico Garcia Lorca like mangy dogs.
And then you tell me to sit and do something all alone
beside the rivers and the barges.
Federico Garcia Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca.
Look how we’re weighing hearts again
and putting blood again in little bottles.
Here, the tombs of the businessmen
the mausoleums with their gold letters--
the masses scattered, buried in gardens
under the carrots and the leeks.
Federico Garcia Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca.
Scalpel in the heart of night, a heart as large as a dove
-- whatever you say
but I murmur your name, little brother
--my forgotten little brother
sweet ethereal smile, my tall slim poplar
--whatever you say.
Whatever You Say
Did you think perhaps that it was only to please myself
that I acted the oaf and the grouch?
That I sit here at night for no hidden reason
in the freezing cold
counting the stars like lice… What do you say?
Didn’t it occur to you that there must be some secret reason
for all this strangeness, for so much blackness?
Don’t tell me, to please you, that it was by chance they began
licking and licking the dried blood
of Federico Garcia Lorca like mangy dogs.
And then you tell me to sit and do something all alone
beside the rivers and the barges.
Federico Garcia Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca.
Look how we’re weighing hearts again
and putting blood again in little bottles.
Here, the tombs of the businessmen
the mausoleums with their gold letters--
the masses scattered, buried in gardens
under the carrots and the leeks.
Federico Garcia Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca.
Scalpel in the heart of night, a heart as large as a dove
-- whatever you say
but I murmur your name, little brother
--my forgotten little brother
sweet ethereal smile, my tall slim poplar
--whatever you say.
