Summer by César Vallejo

Summer

by César Vallejo

translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert

Summer, I am leaving. And how they pain me,

These meek hands of your afternoons. 

You arrive devout; you arrive old; and now

You will find my soul with no one in it. 

Oh, summer. You pass through my balconies

With your great rosary of amethyst and gold

Like a tragic bishop who travels far

To find and bless the broken 

Rings of two dead lovers. 

Summer, I am leaving. And there in September,

You will find a rose I’ve left ...