DEIÀ NOTES

    I

 

Going down the slope

of narrow horizon

half mount

half torrent.

 

Every house feels

through its bridge

to pass the rumor

of running water.

 

The jumping eagerly,

the embroidered fig

gives him shade.

 

Old saw cricket

inside a groove of earth

the paradise molds.

Cap al tard, (At sunset), 1909

Translated by Carlota Oliva.

(Palma, 1854-1926). Joan Alcover was a poet, essayist and politician as well as one of the greatest representatives of the Escola Mallorquina. Titles such as Cap al tard (1909) and Poemes bíblics (1918) are examples of his poetic oeuvre and Catalan literature at the beginning of the 20th century. The death of his first wife and two of his children was a family tragedy that marked him profoundly and this reflected in his writing.