Four Poems

by Francisco X. Alarcon

California en Granada

desde la Torre
de la Vela
de la Alhambra

divisé
la Sierra Nevada
de Granada

cuando oí
su dulce
campanada

creí
que tu voz
me llamaba

¡ay amor
desde la otra
Sierra Nevada!

 California in Granada

from La Vela
Tower of
the Alhambra

I looked at
the Sierra Nevada
from Granada

hearing
the soft toll
of its bell

I thought
it was you
o my love

calling me
from the other
Sierra Nevada!

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Francisco X. Alarcón (ZYZZYVA 3, 26, 51) directs the Spanish for Native Speakers Program at the University of California, Davis. The University of Arizona Press published The Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems in 2002. His most recent book of bilingual poetry for children is Poems to Dream Together / Poemas para soñar juntos. E-mail: fjalarcon@ucdavis.edu

P.O. Box 590069 • San Francisco, CA • 94159-0069

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