Rare handwritten poem by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca entitled “La raiz amarga [The Bitter Root],” penned in black ink on an off-white 6.5 x 7.25 sheet, which is signed below by Garcia Lorca, who adds the place and date, “Madrid, 1933.” The poem, which is inscribed to Uruguayan poet Julio Casal, reads (translated): “There is a bitter root and a world of a thousand windows. / Not even the smallest hand can break the water's door. / Where are you going? Where to? Where? / There is a sky of a thousand windows / – a battle of livid bees – / and there is a bitter root. / Bitter. / It hurts in the sole of the foot, / the inside of the face, / and it hurts in the fresh trunk of a newly cut night. / Love! My enemy! / Bite your bitter root!” The reverse bears pencil notation in another hand. In very good condition, with heavy creasing, folds, and two pieces of old clear tape. The present poem was originally published under the title ‘Gacela de la Raiz Amarga’ (1936), with the title of the offered manuscript poem a truncated version. Given his murder at the age of 38, autographic material from the Spanish Poet is extremely rare across all formats.
The Uruguayan poet Julio Jose Casal, founder of the magazine Alfar, was friends with Garcia Lorca; the two met, among other occasions, in the autumn of 1933 during Garcia Lorca's stay in Argentina and Uruguay.
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