© by Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973)
Translation Singable translation by William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927)
The Morning is Full
Language: English after the Spanish (Español)
The morning is full of storm in the heart of summer. The clouds travel like white handkerchiefs of goodbye, the wind, travelling, waving them in its hands. The numberless heart of the wind beating above our loving silence. Orchestral and divine, resounding among the trees like a language full of wars and songs. Wind that bears off the dead leaves with a quick raid and deflects the pulsing arrows of the birds. Wind that topples her in a wave without spray and substance without weight, and leaning fires. Her mass of kisses breaks and sinks, assailed in the door of the summer's wind.
Text Authorship:
- Singable translation by William Stanley Merwin (b. 1927) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Spanish (Español) by Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973), no title, appears in Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada, no. 4, first published 1923, copyright ©
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Victoria Malawey (b. 1977), "The Morning is Full", 1999, first performed 1999 [ bass-baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Fritz Vogelgsang (1930 - 2009) , copyright © ; composed by Wolfgang Nening.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
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Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2026-11-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 103