�� ����

 

 

������ Para una cubana

 

��� Poes�a dulce y m�stica,

busca a la blanca cubana

que se asom� a la ventana

como una visi�n art�stica.

 

��� Misteriosa y cabal�stica,

puede dar celos a Diana,

con su faz de porcelana

de una blancura eucar�stica.

 

��� Llena de un prestigio asi�tico,

Roja, en el rostro enigm�tico,

Su boca p�rpura finge

 

��� y al sonre�rse vi en ella

el resplandor de una estrella

que fuese alma de esfinge.�����


 

����� For a Cuban Girl

 

��� Poetry sweet and mystic,

seeks la Cubana fair

who from a window stared,

like a vision artistic.

 

��� Mysterious and cabalistic,

she'd make Diana envy,

with her countenance of ivory

of a whiteness eucharistic.

 

��� Full of prestige asiatic,

red, in her face enigmatic,

her mouth did purple feign

 

��� and when she smiled I saw
the radiance of a star

as a sphinx�s soul would reign.

 

By Rub�n Dar�o



Translation: Frank Thomas Smith

���

Rub�n Dar�o (Metapa, Nicaragua, 1867 � Le�n, Nicaragua, 1916)

Es considerado el patriarca de la moderna poes�a espa�ola por la influencia que su poes�a ha ejercido en poetas espa�oles e hispanoamericanos modernos.

 

He is considered the father of modern Spanish poetry because of the influence his poetry has had on Spanish and Latin-American modern poets.