El clavelito
Reinaldo Yiso
The little carnation
Perhaps it's because I'm poor, very poor,
that you treat my sincere love this way,
without understanding that the richness of my soul
is also gold that I offer you.
Maybe your love only seeks greatness
to adorn such beauty without a soul.
Everything is the same, like that tale that tells
of the love between a rose and a carnation.
A sad little carnation lived
consumed by a rose,
but the coquettish and mean rose
only loved a tiny little star.
It happens in life, as in flowers,
we all have sorrows and loves,
the same sorrow as the little carnation
I feel in my heart for your disdain.
It was a garden all covered in flowers,
with its jasmine and very white daisies,
with a carnation among reddish malvones,
with lilies, roses, and dahlias.
And in the garden lived the rose,
in love with a distant little star,
without understanding that the little carnation loved her
and sighed with sadness for her love.
