Four Ballads in Yellow

for Claudio Guillen

1

High up on the mountain
a little green tree

& a shepherd who comes
 & a shepherd who goes.

Sleepy old olive trees
going down the warm valley

& a shepherd who comes
& a shepherd who goes.

Not white ewes nor a dog
not a sheep hook nor love

for the shepherd who goes.

Like a shadow in gold
you dissolve in the wheat

you shepherd who comes.

Jerome Rothenberg, translator.