female poem

Those Who Do Not Dance (Gabriela Mistral )

A crippled child said,
“How shall I dance?”
Let your heart dance
We said.

Then the invalid said:
“How shall I sing?”
Let your heart sing
We said .

Then spoke the poor dead thistle,
But I, how shall I dance?”
Let your heart fly to the wind
We said.

Then God spoke from above
“How shall I descend from the blue?”
Come dance for us here in the light
We said.

All the valley is dancing
Together under the sun,
And the heart of him who joins us not
Is turned to dust, to dust.

Gabriela Mistral ,pen name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, was the first female Latin American poet to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. She received it in 1945 for: "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world"