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Alhambra

Pleasant is the water speaking
To one whom furious sands overwhelmed,
Pleasant to the concave hand
The column's circular marble,
Pleasant the fine labyrinth of water
Amidst the lemon trees,
Pleasant the music of the zéjel,
Pleasant the love and pleasant the prayer
Directed to a God who is alone,
Pleasant the jasmine.

Vain the cutlass
Before the big lances of the many,
Vain to be the best.
Pleasant to feel or have a feeling, doleful king,
That your sweet utterings are goodbyes,
That you shall be denied the key,
That the infidel's cross shall erase the moon,
That the afternoon you see is the last.

Granada, 1976