Antonio Machado
Spain’s finest poet of the early twentieth century.
Poema Anoche Cuando Dormía de Antonio Machado
Anoche cuando dormía
soñé ¡bendita ilusión!
que una fontana fluía
dentro de mi corazón.
Dí: ¿por qué acequia escondida,
agua, vienes hasta mí,
manantial de nueva vida
en donde nunca bebí?
Anoche cuando dormía
soñé ¡bendita ilusión!
que una colmena tenía
dentro de mi corazón;
y las doradas abejas
iban fabricando en él,
con las amarguras viejas,
blanca cera y dulce miel.
Anoche cuando dormía
soñé ¡bendita ilusión!
que un ardiente sol lucía
dentro de mi corazón.
Era ardiente porque daba
calores de rojo hogar,
y era sol porque alumbraba
y porque hacía llorar.
Anoche cuando dormía
soñé ¡bendita ilusión!
que era Dios lo que tenía
dentro de mi corazón.
Translation
Last night while I slept
I dreamt, beautiful illusion!
That a fountain flows
Inside my heart
I asked, why are you hiding
Water, you come to me
With a spring of new life
In which I never lived?
Last night while I slept
I dreamt, Beautiful illusion!
That a hive was
Inside my heart
And the gold of bees
Have fabricated in it
Old bitterness
White wax and sweet honey
Last night while I slept
I dreamt, beautiful illusion!
That a burning sun shone
Inside my heart
It was fiery because it gave
Colors of red
And because the sun illuminated
And because I wept.
Last night while I slept
I dreamt, beautiful illusion!
That it was God
That I had in my heart.
Antonio Machado was born in Seville, Spain on July 26, 1875 and moved to Madrid at the age of eight. He studied in Paris where he worked as a translator with his brother, and met French poets. He became a schoolteacher. His first book of poetry was published in 1903 with the title Soledades. He returned to Spain and taught at Soria in Castile, from 1907, where he met his wife Leonor. Tragically she died very young, and in 1912 he left Soria for Baeza in Andalusia. His wife's death triggered the most depressed stage of his writing. Loyal to the Republic he left Spain for France when Catalonia fell, and died there in February 1939.
