Romanticismo tardío·c. 1860·fragmento (primera estrofa de tres)
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Volverán las oscuras golondrinas
en tu balcón sus nidos a colgar,
y otra vez con el ala a sus cristales
jugando llamarán;
pero aquellas que el vuelo refrenaban
tu hermosura y mi dicha al contemplar,
aquellas que aprendieron nuestros nombres...
ésas... ¡no volverán!
Context
From Rimas. The full poem has three stanzas; the first is what every Spanish schoolchild memorises. The 'aquellas' at the end shifts from grammatical to emotional in a way that's almost impossible to render in English.
In plain English prose
The dark swallows will return to hang their nests on your balcony, and again playfully will tap their wings on the windowpanes; but those (swallows) that paused mid-flight to look at your beauty and my happiness, those that learned our names… those will not return.
Read it out loud at least once.
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