Poet in New York

There's still a city to love.  What a surprise to get off the N at Canal & Lafayette this afternoon to find this. The giant mural celebrating Federico García Lorca appeared just a few weeks ago (see Bedford & Bowery post below). It was created by Spanish artist Sex: El Niño de las Pinturas (Raúl Ruiz) & Brooklyn artist Cern.
Lorca came to New York in 1929, to study at Columbia, and during his ten-month stay in the city completed a collection of poems, "Poet in New York." One of these poems, "Sleepless City: Brooklyn Bridge Nocturne," is quoted in the mural. Here's how it opens:


No duerme nadie por el cielo. Nadie, nadie.
No duerme nadie.
Las criaturas de la luna huelen y rondan sus cabañas.
Vendrán las iguanas vivas a morder a las hombres qui no sueñan
y el que huye con el corazón roto encontrará por las esquinas
al increible cocodrilo quiete bajo la tierna protesta de los astros. 

In the sky there is nobody asleep. Nobody, nobody.
Nobody is asleep.
The creatures of the moon sniff and prowl about their cabins.
The living iguanas will come to bite the men who do not dream,
and the man who rushes out with his spirit broken will meet on the
                        street corner
the unbelievable alligator quiet beneath the tender protest of the
                        stars.
                                                           (translation by Robert Bly)

Federico García Lorca, Back in the New York Groove (Bedford & Bowery)