Encounter
Sun flower.
River flower.
I
Was it you? Your breast so blazing
with light I lost sight of you.
She
And my dress with its ribbons-
how many times did it brush you?
I
In your throat I can hear, unopened,
my children’s white voices.
She
Your chilldren afloat in my eyes
are yellow like diamonds.
I
Was it you? Where were you dragging
your unending tresses, my love?
She
On the moon- are you laughing?
then circling Narcissus’ flower.
I
In my breast a snake that won’t sleep
but quakes with old kisses
She
The moments fell open & fastened
their roots on my sighs.
I
Joined by one breeze
face to face, we were strangers
She
The branches are burgeoning,
go from me!
Neither of us has been born.
Sun flower.
River flower.
-Federico Garcia Lorca
