(LITTLE PAPER LANTERN)
By: F.García Jimenez and Teofilo Lespes
Translated by computer, proofed by Rose Nash.
A hundred flatteries I heard;
a hundred promises I believed;
and in my good and healthy faith,
I saw myself alone and poor.
This afternoon I found
the sadness of the good-bye
in the lips where yesterday
their tenderness spoke of love.
lantern of paper
you have lit my life
with the friendly and faithful light
of the love that I lost.
today you shine somewhere else.
only the virtue remains firm
you turned youself off for me,
and I am here in the dark
I am alone and poor… as I was.
I remained alone:
I did not have anybody but you.
Poor, because
you were my world and I lost it
no longer should I see
your weak flame of illusion,
and I should have
eternal night in the heart.
The promises of weak light
nothing fragile remains standing.
that shine is not genuine
the one that burned my heart
and some other that upon passing
its reflection dazzled.
The prosaic reality
cost me much grief
and in the bitterness of the truth
my misfortune was cured.
I resign with my cross.
If I know what’s inside you,
a great deal of smoke
and little light
lantern of paper.