Author(s): Cecil Charles

Poetry

Excerpt from Tuya: Other Verses and Translations From Jose Marti Tuya. A Memory of the Cabanas Prison. A woman reigned in Spain. We blamed her not -Ere she was born our fathers knew the shameOf ankle-chains and dungeons where should rotMan in God's image till Death's mercy came.Corruption cursed the land: nor childish KingNor Queen was in our thoughts - save only thoseRed days of feast when gay flags flutteringProclaimed the latest mockery of our woes. My respite had been long - my brothers outUnder the Single Star (and all Heaven's stars)Fought and were slain - or came not back to doubtThe justice of our never-ending wars.But I stayed, neutral in my actions throughScarce selfish motives, chief of all the faceOf that proud beauty of the Cerro whoIn happier hours had deigned to show me grace. Neutral and heart-sore... till my turn had come: The search at midnight - the accusing lies -The ropes that gnawed my arms - the boat - the dumbAnd staring misery in my comrades' eyes.The zig zag pathway to the fortress height -The ditch where if hearts' blood were seed a seaOf scarlet flowers should flame and blind the sightOf all who glanced that way - it seemed to me. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."