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10 Spanish Poems with English Translations

Read ten complete public-domain Spanish poems, from four-line love poems to Lorca’s children’s verse and Machado’s spring landscape. Each line has a fresh English translation, and each poem names its source and publication evidence.

10 entries · Updated

An open poetry book with a seashell, almond blossom, a blue eye motif and footprints leading toward the sea

Start here

  1. What Is Poetry?“What is poetry?” you ask while fixing
  2. For a GlanceFor one glance, a world;
  3. Where Does Love Go?Sighs are air, and go into the air.
  4. Everything PassesEverything passes, and everything remains;
  5. The SeashellSomeone has brought me a seashell.
  6. A Silly SongMum,

Short Spanish Poems for Beginners

Begin with four compact poems whose repeated words make them approachable. Short does not mean that every metaphor is simple.

An open notebook beside a blue sea and a single rose
1

What Is Poetry?

¿Qué es poesía? dices mientras clavas
“What is poetry?” you ask while fixing
en mi pupila tu pupila azul;
your blue pupil on mine;
¿qué es poesía? ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
what is poetry? And you are asking me?
Poesía... eres tú.
Poetry… is you.

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1870; documented publication in 1885, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Rimas, XXI

The reply turns a definition into a declaration of love. The source transcription’s obvious typo proguntas is normalized to preguntas.

Two people meeting each other’s gaze beside an open notebookSource note
2

For a Glance

Por una mirada, un mundo;
For one glance, a world;
por una , un ;
for one smile, a heaven;
por un beso... ¡yo no
for one kiss… I do not know
qué te diera por un beso!
what I would give you for one kiss!

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1870; documented publication in 1885, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Rimas, XXIII

The escalating gifts make the four-line poem easy to follow. Diera has a hypothetical sense here: would give.

A tiny globe and a cloud beside a smiling coupleSource note
3

Where Does Love Go?

Los suspiros son , y van al .
Sighs are air, and go into the air.
Las son , y van al .
Tears are water, and go into the sea.
, : el amor se olvida,
Tell me, woman: when love is forgotten,
¿ tú va?
do you know where it goes?

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1870; documented publication in 1885, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Rimas, XXXVIII

Air and water offer concrete comparisons before the unanswered question. The repeated son and van make useful reading practice.

A teardrop joining the sea while a soft breath rises into the airSource note
4

Everything Passes

Todo pasa y todo queda;
Everything passes, and everything remains;
pero lo nuestro es pasar,
but our part is to pass through,
pasar haciendo ,
to pass while making paths,
sobre la .
paths across the sea.

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1939; documented publication in 1917, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Antonio Machado (1875–1939), Campos de Castilla, Proverbios y cantares XLIV

The poem holds passing and remaining together rather than resolving the contradiction. The sea makes the idea of a permanent path impossible.

A small boat leaving a temporary wake on a calm seaSource note

Explore these words: Nature & landscape (flashcards) · Emotions & feelings (flashcards) · Question words

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Famous Spanish Poems About Life and Love

Machado and Darío move from walking and loving to the unsettling questions of conscious life.

Footprints along a mountain path with an open poetry book
5

Traveller, There Is No Path

Caminante, son tus huellas
Traveller, your footprints are
el y nada más;
the path, and nothing more;
caminante, no hay ,
traveller, there is no path,
se hace camino al .
the path is made by walking.
Al se hace camino,
By walking, the path is made,
y al volver la vista atrás
and when you look back
se ve la senda que
you see the track that never
se ha de a pisar.
will be walked again.
Caminante, no hay
Traveller, there is no path,
sino estelas en la .
only wakes upon the sea.

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1939; documented publication in 1917, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Intermediate

— Antonio Machado (1875–1939), Campos de Castilla, Proverbios y cantares XXIX

The traveller makes a route through action. Huellas are footprints, senda is a track, and estelas are wakes: the shifting images matter as much as the familiar opening.

Footprints along a shore changing into a boat’s wakeSource note
6

Love, Always

, , , , con todo
To love, love, love, always love, with all
el ser y con la tierra y con el ,
your being, and with the earth and sky,
con lo claro del y lo oscuro del lodo:
with the brightness of the sun and the darkness of mud:
por toda ciencia y por todo anhelo.
let love be all your knowledge and all your longing.
Y la de la vida
And when the mountain of life
nos sea dura y y y llena de abismos,
is hard and long and high and full of chasms for us,
la inmensidad que es de amor encendida
love the immensity that love sets alight
y en la fusión de nuestros pechos mismos.
and burn in the joining of our very hearts.

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1916; documented publication in 1918, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Intermediate

— Rubén Darío (1867–1916), Cantos de vida y esperanza, “Amo, amas”, cited 1918 edition

Darío builds urgency by repeating the infinitive amar. The title conjugates love, while the poem expands the verb into a way of meeting the world.

Two figures on a mountain path beneath sunlit skySource note
7

The Burden of Being

Dichoso el , que es apenas sensitivo,
Fortunate the tree, which scarcely feels,
y más la piedra dura porque esa ya no siente,
and more so the hard stone, because it feels nothing,
pues no hay dolor más grande que el dolor de ser ,
for no pain is greater than the pain of being alive,
ni mayor pesadumbre que la vida .
nor any heavier burden than conscious life.
Ser y no nada, y ser sin rumbo cierto,
To be, and know nothing, and be without a certain course,
y el de haber sido y un futuro ...
and the fear of having been, and a terror yet to come…
Y el espanto seguro de estar mañana muerto,
and the certain dread of being dead tomorrow,
y sufrir por la vida y por la sombra y por
and to suffer for life, and for shadow, and for
lo que no conocemos y apenas sospechamos,
what we do not know and scarcely suspect,
y la carne que tienta con sus frescos racimos,
and the flesh that tempts with its fresh clusters,
y la que aguarda con sus fúnebres ramos,
and the grave that waits with its funeral branches,
¡y no a dónde vamos,
and not to know where we are going,
ni de dónde venimos!...
nor where we come from!

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1916; documented publication in 1905, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Hard

— Rubén Darío (1867–1916), Cantos de vida y esperanza, “Lo fatal”

An adult meditation on mortality, not a comforting children’s verse. The unusual line break after por leaves the reader suspended before what cannot be known.

A tree and a stone beside a forked path fading into mistSource note

Explore these words: Emotions & feelings (flashcards) · Nature & landscape (flashcards) · Directions & position (flashcards)

Put these words into context with a story at your level.

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Spanish Poems for Kids and Shared Reading

These two poems belong to Lorca’s children’s section in Canciones. Their concrete images reward slow reading aloud.

A seashell and an embroidered pillow beside a child’s book
8

The Seashell

Me han una caracola.
Someone has brought me a seashell.
Dentro le
Inside it sings
un de .
a sea from a map.
Mi corazón
My heart
se llena de
fills with water
con pececillos
and little fish
de sombra y .
of shadow and silver.
Me han una caracola.
Someone has brought me a seashell.

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1936; documented publication in 1927, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), Canciones, Canciones para niños, “Caracola”

The shell brings an imagined sea into the speaker’s heart. A mar de mapa is a miniature, imagined sea rather than an ordinary physical sea.

A child holding a seashell with tiny silver fish imagined insideSource note
9

A Silly Song

Mamá,
Mum,
yo ser de .
I want to be made of silver.
Hijo,
My child,
tendrás mucho frío.
you will be very cold.
Mamá,
Mum,
yo ser de .
I want to be made of water.
Hijo,
My child,
tendrás mucho frío.
you will be very cold.
Mamá,
Mum,
bórdame en tu .
embroider me on your pillow.
¡Eso !
That, yes!
¡Ahora mismo!
Right this minute!

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1936; documented publication in 1927, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Easy

— Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), Canciones, Canciones para niños, “Canción tonta”

A mother answers a child’s impossible wishes. The final wish turns the child into an embroidered image that can remain close. The transcription’s bórdarme is corrected to the imperative bórdame.

A mother embroidering a child’s silhouette on a soft pillowSource note

Explore these words: Shapes, sizes & materials (flashcards) · Drinks (flashcards) · Music & dance (flashcards)

Put these words into context with a story at your level.

Read Spanish stories

A Spanish Spring Poem

Fresh leaves, April rain and almond blossom become a way of thinking about memory.

An almond tree flowering after a light April shower
10

Spring Was Kissing

La besaba
Spring was kissing
suavemente la arboleda,
the grove softly,
y el verde nuevo brotaba
and the fresh green was springing up
como una verde humareda.
like a green cloud of smoke.
Las iban pasando
Clouds were passing
sobre el campo juvenil...
above the youthful fields…
Yo vi en las hojas temblando
I saw, trembling on the leaves,
las frescas de .
the fresh rains of April.
Bajo ese almendro florido,
Beneath that blossoming almond tree,
todo cargado de
laden with flowers,
—recordé—, yo he maldecido
I remembered that I had cursed
mi juventud sin amor.
my loveless youth.
, en de la vida,
Today, halfway through life,
me he parado a meditar...
I have stopped to reflect…
¡Juventud vivida,
Youth that I never lived,
quién te a !
if only I could dream you again!

Full public-domain text · Author died in 1939; documented publication in 1907, before 1930. The date is a verified publication or edition, not necessarily the first appearance. English translations are original.

Intermediate

— Antonio Machado (1875–1939), Soledades, galerías y otros poemas, LXXXV

Spring’s new growth contrasts with a youth the speaker feels he missed. The opening is gentle and concrete; the ending introduces regret and the wish expressed by quién plus the subjunctive.

An almond tree in blossom with April raindrops on fresh green leavesSource note

Explore these words: Weather (flashcards) · Seasons & celebrations (flashcards) · Plants & trees (flashcards)

Put these words into context with a story at your level.

Read Spanish stories

Famous Spanish-language authors

Read a Poem in Three Passes

  1. Listen once and notice the repeated sounds and images.
  2. Read line by line, checking the English only when a phrase blocks your understanding.
  3. Read the entire poem again, following its punctuation across line breaks.

Read a full story in Inklingo

Continue with graded stories that explore folklore, nature, and imagination. These are Inklingo adaptations and original stories; each description explains the connection.

The Tooth Mouse Visits Sofía (A1)

A gentle A1 adaptation of the Ratoncito Pérez tradition: a lost tooth becomes a coin beneath Sofía’s pillow.

Read the full story in Inklingo

La Llorona by the River (A2)

An A2 adaptation of the Mexican La Llorona legend. Its river setting and grieving spirit connect to supernatural folk tales; the story includes the loss of children.

Read the full story in Inklingo

Spanish poems: frequently asked questions

Which Spanish poems are easiest for beginners?

Bécquer’s four-line poems, Machado’s Everything Passes and Lorca’s Seashell are useful starting points. Their vocabulary is short, although the images can suggest more than one interpretation.

Are these poems from Spain or Latin America?

Bécquer, Machado and Lorca were Spanish. Rubén Darío was Nicaraguan and wrote within a Spanish-language literary world that crossed national borders.

Which Spanish poems are suitable for children?

The Seashell and A Silly Song come from Lorca’s children’s section in Canciones. Read them together and let children describe the images before discussing abstract meanings.

Are the English translations literal?

They aim to make each Spanish line understandable while preserving its image. They do not attempt to copy the original rhyme or meter, and they are newly written translations.

Why are some short lines split across several rows?

The author’s line breaks shape rhythm and expectation. A sentence can continue into the next line, so punctuation is a better guide to pauses than the edge of a row.

Are the complete poems in the public domain?

Each full poem meets this project’s two requirements: its author died before 1956 and the work appeared in print before 1930. The publication note under each poem identifies the supporting edition; modern editorial commentary and published translations have not been copied.

What is the difference between a quote and a poem?

A quote isolates a short thought. This page restores complete poetic units and their line-by-line movement. For short shareable lines grouped by theme, use the Spanish quotes guide.

How can I learn vocabulary from Spanish poetry?

Start with concrete words such as sea, tree, stone, water and pillow. Then notice the verbs attached to them; a metaphor often comes from giving an ordinary object an unexpected action.

Make these words part of your day

Explore Spanish stories, listen along, and save vocabulary as you go.

Find a story at your level

Sources and verification

English translations and examples were written for this guide. Source notes distinguish documented expressions, original practice sentences, and literary quotations. Literary excerpts retain the language of their original period.

Source notes for all 10 entries
  1. What Is Poetry?: Complete original poem. The reply turns a definition into a declaration of love. The source transcription’s obvious typo proguntas is normalized to preguntas. [becquer-xxi] [becquer-dates] [becquer-transcription]
  2. For a Glance: Complete original poem. The escalating gifts make the four-line poem easy to follow. Diera has a hypothetical sense here: would give. [becquer-xxiii] [becquer-dates]
  3. Where Does Love Go?: Complete original poem. Air and water offer concrete comparisons before the unanswered question. The repeated son and van make useful reading practice. [becquer-xxxviii] [becquer-dates]
  4. Everything Passes: Complete original poem. The poem holds passing and remaining together rather than resolving the contradiction. The sea makes the idea of a permanent path impossible. [machado-xliv] [machado-1917] [machado-history]
  5. Traveller, There Is No Path: Complete original poem. The traveller makes a route through action. Huellas are footprints, senda is a track, and estelas are wakes: the shifting images matter as much as the familiar opening. [machado-xxix] [machado-1917] [machado-history]
  6. Love, Always: Complete original poem. Darío builds urgency by repeating the infinitive amar. The title conjugates love, while the poem expands the verb into a way of meeting the world. [dario-amo] [dario-1905] [dario-dates]
  7. The Burden of Being: Complete original poem. An adult meditation on mortality, not a comforting children’s verse. The unusual line break after por leaves the reader suspended before what cannot be known. [dario-fatal] [dario-1905] [dario-dates]
  8. The Seashell: Complete original poem. The shell brings an imagined sea into the speaker’s heart. A mar de mapa is a miniature, imagined sea rather than an ordinary physical sea. [lorca-caracola] [lorca-1927] [lorca-contents] [lorca-dates]
  9. A Silly Song: Complete original poem. A mother answers a child’s impossible wishes. The final wish turns the child into an embroidered image that can remain close. The transcription’s bórdarme is corrected to the imperative bórdame. [lorca-tonta] [lorca-1927] [lorca-contents] [lorca-dates] [lorca-transcription]
  10. Spring Was Kissing: Complete original poem. Spring’s new growth contrasts with a youth the speaker feels he missed. The opening is gentle and concrete; the ending introduces regret and the wish expressed by quién plus the subjunctive. [machado-primavera] [machado-1917] [soledades-1907]