TO LOVE
If you are a gift snatched from heaven,
why the doubts, the moans, the tears,
the jealousy, the tormenting grief,
the troubled nights of feverish wakefulness?
If you are an evil from the terrestrial globe,
why the joys, the smiles, the songs,
the hopes, the glorious enchantament
the visions of peace and consolation?
If you are snow, why your live flames?
If you are a flame, why your inert ice?
If you are a shadow, why do you spread light?
Why the shade, if you are beloved light?
If you are life, why do you give me death?
If you are death, why do you give me life?
Manuel González Prada
English Translation by Seymour Resnick