LORCA'S NAME DAY

We know
you by your sad notes
but rejoice you are
in our purity
how phrases fail us
and vanish
into a Spanish dance
and you even visited
New York City,
to sup with us
in the red apple
my dear brother
I greet you at first breath
of spring's airy mirror
by the sound of your voice
the memory of the sun
which blooms as rays
fade in a blue light dawn
by Ellis Island's open boats
along the ship's home harbor
filled with the scattered
and stretched out hands
for the earth's wanderers
with a guitar caroling songs
by the subway trains
of God's poor
underfoot in Manhattan
for there no border
to hold back our words
you live to recite verses
before a firing squad.