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The Good Night and Good Morning of Federico Garcia Lorca

By David Wagoner b. 1926 David Wagoner

He knew he was asleep and was dreaming

Of a beautiful poem. It seemed to be singing

Itself in the night, and he woke

In a bed in a room in an old hotel

And lay there, hearing the song go on

Though he could see the shape

Of his empty shirt on the straight chair

And his empty shoes on the patch of carpet

Made light, half by the moon

And half by the gray beginning

Of dawn. He could see the silhouette

Of his own hand against the window shade

Like a flower, open and waiting. He smiled

At the foolishness of loving his own poem

In his own dream, of accepting praise

From his own shadow. But his mind's eye

Kept seeing that poem and his real ear

Kept hearing that same song. It came from the street

Under his window, and before he knew why,

He was out of bed and shivering his way

Into what were some of his clothes

And one of his shoes and stumbling

Into the hall and down the unlighted stairs

And through the lobby (where the clerk was dreaming

Something else), through the stubbornly locked door

And along the sidewalk to the curb where the singer

Was sweeping trash and leaves along the gutter

With his slow broom, who now stopped, his mouth

Open to gape at an apparition

Holding a scrap of paper up to his face

And begging him to read aloud. The sweeper whispered

He couldn't read. And Lorca took him

Into his arms and kissed him and kissed

The morning air, now stirring what was left

Of the leaves overhead, and went limping back

Through a door that stood wide open

And a grand lobby and up the stairs into bed

To lie there stark awake as sleeplessly

As a poet who'd been told he was immortal.

Source: Poetry (November 2001).

Biography

David Wagoner is recognized as the leading poet of the Pacific Northwest, often compared to his early mentor Theodore Roethke, and highly praised for his skillful, insightful and serious body of work. He has won numerous prestigious literary awards including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and the Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and has twice been nominated for the National Book Award. The author of ten . . .

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