Poetry Friday: Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) by Jose Marti

Yo sè los nombres extraños
De las yerbas y las flores,
Y de mortales engaños,
Y de sublimes dolores.

I know the strange names
Of the herbs and the flowers,
And deadly betrayals,
And sacred sorrows.
- from Versos Sencillos (Simple Verses) by Jose Marti

This poem is quoted at the top of The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom, which is a verse novel written by Margarita Engle.

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