Duende

"The duende is a power...it is a struggle...
the duende climbs up inside you, from the
soles of the feet."

from "In Search of Duende"
Federico Garcia Lorca

The guitar is a difficult mistress
--never a lover, for whoever
holds this instrument, male
or female, must be the lover,

the one who presses, gives,
bending to her moods, attentive
to her wooden heart--she forever
coy, forever the seductress.

Reluctantly, the lover lays her
gently down. Exhausted, bent,
with aching joints and tendons--
tenderly the lover lays her down.

Oh, Lorca! I have found my
deep song, the dark wooden
hollow of my mistress's heart.
I have found my instrument,

but I cannot make her speak.

Liz Vesecky