At Five in the Afternoon - Federico García Lorca

Poetry reading of "At Five in the Afternoon" by Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca.Show more

Original Music: Estocada a muerte (violin, guitar, ukulele) by A. Q.

Goring and Death (At Five in the Afternoon), was written by the Spanish poet, Federico García Lorca. The elegy describes the horrific consequence of bullfighting to both man and animal. The tragedy occurs at 5 in the afternoon and the poem proceeds to dwell on all the "terrible" details of the bloody sport of bullfighting and death of torero, Ignacio Sanchez Mejias.

1. Goring and death

At five in the afternoon.
It was five o'clock sharp in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A pail of lime made ready
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death, and death alone.
at five in the afternoon.

The wind carried away the cotton wool
at five in the afternoon.
And the oxide scattered crystal and nickel
at five in the afternoon.
Now the dove and the leopard wrestle
at five in the afternoon.
And a thigh with a desolate horn
at five in the afternoon.
The bass-string struck up
at five in the afternoon.
Arsenic bells and smoke
at five in the afternoon.
Groups of silence in the corners
at five in the afternoon.
And the bull alone with a high heart!
At five in the afternoon.
When the sweat of snow was coming
at five in the afternoon,
when the bull ring was covered in iodine
at five in the afternoon.
Death laid eggs in the wound
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
At five o'clock sharp in the afternoon.

A coffin on wheels was his bed
at five in the afternoon.
Bones and flutes resound in his ears
at five in the afternoon.
Now the bull bellows from within
at five in the afternoon.
The room was iridescent with agony
at five in the afternoon.
In the distance the gangrene now comes
at five in the afternoon.
Horn of the lily through green groins
at five in the afternoon.
The wounds were burning like suns
at five in the afternoon.
And the crowd was smashing windows
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
Oh, that terrible five in the afternoon!
It was five by all the clocks!
It was five in the shadow of the afternoon!