Sadness of White Camellias

The Guitar

The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.

~ Federico Garcia Lorca (1898 - 1936)

As I searched for a poem to match this photo, I was surprised to see that many poems referred to camellias in terms of cold, soulless, and sorrowful. Although the poem I chose has a guitar as its subject, I was drawn to it because of Lorca and his Spanish roots. He was a poet, writer and, theatre director who was apprehended and believed murdered by Spanish Fascists in 1936, as the Spanish Civil War was just beginning. 

I was drawn to this poem as I have recently read two books that deal with Franco, Hitler, and this war that was a trial run in preparation for WWII. One is a biography by Paula McLain, Love & Ruin, about Martha Gelhorn, the first female war correspondent and her relationship with Ernest Hemmingway. Through her connection to Hemmingway, she was able to get her first correspondent's break by sneaking into Spain and covering the Spanish Civil War. 

The second book by Jacqueline Winspear, A Dangerous Place, is one in a series of mysteries featuring private investigator, Maisie Dobbs. Winspear is quite knowledgeable about World Wars I & II, and Maise was a nurse in WWI. Now Maise finds herself in Gibraltar, a military garrison, on the eve of the war. She too sneaks into Spain to learn more and provide aid to guerrilla fighters. Through these two authors and their books, I have learned much more about Europe and WWI and WWII.

With all that is occurring in the US, including an all-out assault on democracy, I can relate to the sadness of white camellias.