{"id":5584,"date":"2017-01-23T10:27:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T17:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5584"},"modified":"2017-01-23T10:27:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T17:27:00","slug":"gabriela-mistral-those-who-do-not-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/23\/gabriela-mistral-those-who-do-not-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabriela Mistral – Those Who Do Not Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those Who Do Not Dance
\nby Gabriela Mistral<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Helene Masslo Anderson<\/font><\/p>\n

A crippled child
\nSaid, \u201cHow shall I dance?\u201d
\nLet your heart dance
\nWe said.<\/p>\n

Then the invalid said:
\n\u201cHow shall I sing?\u201d
\nLet your heart sing
\nWe said<\/p>\n

Then spoke the poor dead thistle,
\n\u201cBut I, how shall I dance?\u201d
\nLet your heart fly to the wind
\nWe said.<\/p>\n

Then God spoke from above
\n\u201cHow shall I descend from the blue?\u201d
\nCome dance for us here in the light
\nWe said.<\/p>\n

All the valley is dancing
\nTogether under the sun,
\nAnd the heart of him who joins us not
\nIs turned to dust, to dust.<\/em><\/p>\n


\/ Image by tasiaraye<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

I thought this poem might be a good choice in honor of the weekend\u2019s Women\u2019s Marches across the world.<\/p>\n

With this poem, the great Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral, through simple language, is exploring how we move beyond our assumed limitations and express joy, creativity, life. How do we dance when the body does not respond? When we have grown dry and prickly and lost most of our substance, is it possible we can fly? Even God, at least the God of our imaginations, needs an invitation in which we gather together in the light.<\/p>\n

The more we remember, as we see our limitations as new pathways rather than roadblocks, we begin to come alive, reconnect, and dance, until all valley is in movement with us under the sun.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Gabriela Mistral<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Gabriela<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nGabriela Mistral<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Chile (1889 \u2013 1957) Timeline<\/a>
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Catholic<\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Gabriela Mistral is one of the great Chilean poets of the 20th century. She started writing poetry as a young schoolteacher when a romance ended tragically with the young man\u2019s suicide. She continued to teach and write until her poetry gained national and international attention.<\/p>\n

Her poetry often explores themes of childhood, love, and loss. But, as you can see in several of these poems, her work often reaches inward to a deep sense of inner awakening.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Gabriela Mistral<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those Who Do Not Dance by Gabriela Mistral English version by Helene Masslo Anderson A crippled child Said, \u201cHow shall I dance?\u201d Let your heart dance We said. Then the invalid said: \u201cHow shall I sing?\u201d Let your heart sing We said Then spoke the poor dead thistle, \u201cBut I, how shall I dance?\u201d Let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1077,2031,2032],"class_list":["post-5584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-dance","tag-gabriela-mistral","tag-womens-march"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5585,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5584\/revisions\/5585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}