When I think you gone...
Rosalía de Castro
When I think you gone, abruptly
it begins again - the haunting.
Dark penumbra that benumbs me
round my bed you circle, taunting.
When again I think you absent,
in the dark your shadow masses;
and you're somber in the starlight,
somber in the wind that passes.
Any song I hear - you sing it;
you're the mourner in all mourning;
you're the brook - its doleful murmur;
you're the deed of night - the dawning.
You're my all. My all and only.
Round me, in me, leaving never.
Dark penumbra that benumbs me -
you're my very self forever.
Translated from Spanish by
John Frederick Nims
