Hope says

by Antonio Machado

English version by Ivan M. Granger
Original Language Spanish

     Hope says: One day
you will see her, if you wait well.
Says despair:
She is only your bitterness.
Beat, my heart... Not all
has been swallowed by the earth.

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is a heartbreaking poem, one that wrestles with that great empty space left by death. But these lines have a quiet courage as well. The tension between hope and despair seems equal and impossible to resolve, but his soul makes a stand and gives that final nudge in favor of hope and the world of the living.








Hope says