DARK SWALLOWS WILL RETURN...
Dark swallows will return
to hang their nests on your balcony
and again with their wings will rap playfully
on its windows.
But those who checked their flight
to contemplate your beauty and my happiness,
those who memorized our names,
those... will not return!
Dense honeysuckles will return
to climb the adobe walls of your garden
and again in the afternoon even more lovely
will open their flowers.
But those drops of dew
that we watched tremble
and fall like tears of the day...
those... will not return!
Ardent words of love will return
to sound in your ear,
your heart will perhaps awaken
from its deep slumber.
But mute and entranced and kneeling,
like worshiping God at an altar,
like I desired you..., don't kid yourself,
no one will desire you like that!
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
English translation by H. Landman