Those who do not dance

Los que no danzan1 by Gabriela Mistral2

A crippled child
Said, “How shall I dance?”
Let your heart dance
We said.

Then the invalid said:
“How shall I sing?”
Let your heart sing
We said

Then spoke the poor dead thistle,
“But I, how shall I dance?”
Let your heart fly to the wind
We said.

Then God spoke from above
“How shall I descend from the blue?”
Come dance for us here in the light
We said.

All the valley is dancing
Together under the sun,
And the heart of him who joins us not
Is turned to dust, to dust.

• English translation from Spanish by Helene Masslo Anderson.
• Gabriela Mistral, pseudonym for Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (1889-1957), was a Chilean poet, teacher, educator and diplomat. The quoted poem comes from her second collection, Ternura (1924 [Tenderness]), comprising lullabies and poems for children. At the conclusion of her first collection of poetry, Desolación (1922 [Desolation]), she had made a vow for this second one, to “climb more elemental slopes to spiritual plateaux where a broad light will fall upon my days. From there, I will sing the words of hope, I will sing as a merciful one wanted to do, for the consolation of men”. During the interval between these two publications, Gabriela Mistral worked in Mexico, developing rural education in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. The nation took to her poetry so much that once in her honour, 4,000 Mexican children sang her nine Rondas [Rounds], the sixth of which is the quoted poem.

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