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Hope says by Antonio Machado (1875 - 1939) Timeline English version by Ivan M. Granger Original Language Spanish Secular or Eclectic 20th Century      Hope says: One day you will see her, if you wait well. Says despair: She is only your bitterness. Beat, my heart... Not all has been swallowed by the earth.	Themes   Heart         Recommended Books Antonio Machado: Selected Poems, by Antonio Machado / Translated by Alan S. Trueblood Border of a Dream: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado, by Antonio Machado / Translated by Willis Barnstone The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Six Masters of the Spanish Sonnet: Francisco de Quevedo, Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz, Antonio Machado, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges, Miguel, Translated by Willis Barnstone Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado, Translated by Robert Bly
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is a heartbreaking poem, one that wrestles with that great empty space left by death. But these lines have a quiet courage as well. The tension between hope and despair seems equal and impossible to resolve, but his soul makes a stand and gives that final nudge in favor of hope and the world of the living.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
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