Gabriela Mistral, born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, was the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is remembered for her lyric poetry that skillfully taps into universal emotions and considers themes of betrayal, love, and sorrow. She passed away at the age of 67 in January 1957.
‘Fear’ by Gabriela Mistral is a passionate poem about a mother’s hopes for her daughter’s future. It includes three stanzas that contain the speaker’s worries about who her daughter may turn into.
I don’t want them to turn
my little girl into a swallow.
She would fly far away into the sky
and never fly again to my straw bed,
Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral invites the listener to give the poet their hand and dance: “Give me your hand and you will love me…”
Give me your hand and give me your love,
give me your hand and dance with me.
A single flower, and nothing more,
a single flower is all we'll be.
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