Lost in the woods I snapped off a dark branch

VI From: Cien sonetos de amor

Lost in the woods, I snapped off a dark branch

and, lifted its murmur, in thirst, to my lips:

perhaps the weeping voice of the rain,

a shattered bell, or a broken heart.

It came to me, something out of far distance,

deeply concealed, and hidden by Earth,

a cry, defeated by immense autumns,

by half-opened moistness of shadowy leaves.

But waking out of the woods dream there,

that hazel branch sang under my tongue,

and its vagrant perfume rose to my mind

As if suddenly roots I had long abandoned

searched me, the lost domains of childhood,

and held me, wounded by wandering fragrance.