When I resumed my education after a break of fourty years or so, I took three quarters of Spanish. This was a self-imposed assignment, to determine whether I had mastered the language sufficiently to be able to write a poem. I didn’t want to do an English poem and then attempt to translate, but wrote it directly in Spanish. My instructor very generously reviewed the poem and corrected a few minor errors.

Las Montanas son bonitas por las mananas
Cuando el sol las besa y el cielo se sonroja.

El mundo gira. Noche sigue dia.
Las estaciones vienen y van.
Los rios corren con risa al mar.
Todas las cosas cambian.

Al fin, los montanas, el sol, y el cielo se quedan.
Son eternos.
Eternos y siempre bonitos, como el amor de Dios.

Janice Lewis Clark March, 2000

translation:

Sunrise (the coming out of the sun)

The mountains are beautiful in the mornings
When the sun kisses them and the sky blushes.

The world turns. Night follows day.
The seasons come and go.
The rivers run with laughter to the sea.
All things change.

At the end, the mountains, the sun, and the sky remain
They are eternal.
Eternal and always beautiful, like the love of God.