The life and work of Gabriela Mistral (real name Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) was profoundly marked by the tragic loss of her first and only love in 1907 when she was only eighteen years old. The pain of loneliness is a constant theme in her poetry, but not so constant as the triumph of love, particularly love for children. Although she never had children of her own, her poetry and her tireless work as an educator made Nobel Academy Secretary Hjalmar Gullberg name her “the great songstress of mercy and motherhood”.

The night, it is forlorn
from the mountains to the sea.
But I, the one who rocks you,
I know no solitude!

The sky, it is forlorn
if the Moon falls to the sea.
But I, the one who holds you,
I know no solitude!

The world, it is forlorn
and sad flesh no more shall be.
But I, the one who hugs you,
I know no solitude!

Translated by Martin Boyd