The Wind Rose

I know not why, but I know she's a she

Eternal woman, wind rose without leaf

To ships and men she listens when they speak

And rules her choir the old voices of the sea

Desde Valpo hasta Cádiz

Hermana, a nuestra Rosa canto yo

Por soleá bajo la luna, hermana

Por alegrías con el sol

In the milky moonlight

Buoyed that boat on the water and waves

I stood on the shingle

And waited for day

As she fell from the cliffs

And sang deep in the caves

Her lonely hymn

To cirrus skies

The lighthouse cried

Farewell, goodbye

With night unwritten yet

Desde Valpo hasta Cádiz

Hermana, a nuestra Rosa canto yo

Por soleá bajo la luna, hermana

Por alegrías con el sol

I dreamed alone of her

And climbed aboard

With the island poets

For rumoured shores

And saw the bell towers

Fold and fade to nothing

But the spinnaker sighed at

Her stubborn will

Her storm-like mind

Fathoms deep and dark as

Vaults of the sea

I saw them cast a rose out to the breeze

As the wind moves the water

In the chalice of a rose