IF YOU LOVE ME, LOVE ALL OF ME

IF YOU LOVE ME, LOVE ALL OF ME

If you love me, love all of me,
not the places of light or shadow . . .
If you love me, love me black and white.

And gray and green
and blonde and brown . . .
Love me by day,
love me by night . . .

And in the morning by the open window!
If you love me, love me how I am.
Love all of me . . . Or don’t love me at all!

DULCE MARÍA LOYNAZ, Cuba (1902 – 1997)
Translation Germain Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan
from “Antología Lírica”, Colección Austral, Espasa Calpe, Madrid