Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) is considered one of the main figures in Chilean and Hispanic American literature of the 20th century. She was a poet, diplomat, teacher, educator, and the first Hispanic American woman to receive a Nobel Prize (1945).

I have the faithful joy

and the lost joy:

one like a rose,

the other like a thorn.

From what was stolen from me

I was not dispossessed:

I have the faithful joy

and the lost joy,

and I am rich in purple

and in melancholy.

Oh, how loving is the rose

and how beloved the thorn!

Like the double outline

of two twin fruits,

I have the faithful joy

and the lost joy…

Header Image:

Portrait of Gabriela Mistral. Source: estandarte.com