THE TIGER AND THE ROSE

THE TIGER AND THE ROSE

I listen as I sleep
to tigers making love to roses
beneath shining blue moons
and I hear the mockingbirds’ song
and I sense the aroma of their flights.
And I hear the tiger say to the rose:
“I must dream of you for seven nights
and must not touch you
for tenderness to not disappear
or the magic of my fantasies,
and only thus will I know if my dreams
will keep until the dawning sun”

FRANCISCO DE ASÍS FERNÁNDEZ, NICARAGUA (1945)

Translation: Stacey Alba Skar Hawkins

From: “El tigre y la rosa”,
Editorial Hispamer, Nicaragua 2017