Farewell : Poem by Federico Garcia Lorca

If I die,
leave the balcony open.
The little boy is eating oranges.
(From my balcony I can see him.)
The reaper is harvesting the wheat.
(From my balcony I can hear him.)
If I die,
leave the balcony open!

Interpretation of the poem:

Federico Garcia Lorca's poem is Farewell translated from the Spanish by W.S. Gerwin is a romantic lyric, which expresses a desire for the senses to feast on even after death.

The poet or the person (the speaker of the poem) asked someone, perhaps one of his family members, to leave the balcony open if he dies, because from his balcony he wants to see the little boy eating oranges and hear the reaper harvesting the wheat.

There are some people who say that this life on the Earth and the physical world here is a world of illusion, meaningless and our senses are not real, only the life after death is real. They give preference to the spirit or the soul. And want to forget the physical world. There are others who give preference to the physical world and condemn the existence of the spiritual world. Unlike them, the poem seems to suggest that this world and the life here is real and we must enjoy it. Our senses are real what we do, hear, or feel have importance. Life is not illusion. We have to make meaningful by enjoying different activities here in the Earth. The poet is not fed up with the worldly activities. So much so that he even after death wants to return back and enjoy the little boy eating oranges and the reaper harvesting the wheat. Eating oranges is symbolic of enjoying earthly activities with pleasure, so is harvesting the wheat.

The poet wants to keep the balance attitude towards the physical and the spiritual world. He seems to believe in both. The world 'balcony' hare is this poem stands for a vintage point from where both inside and outside can be seen. Here inside refers to the soul and outside refers to the physical world. This world 'balcony' has been repeated four times in the poem. This repetition has great significance. He seems, thus, to suggest that souls are real, so are bodies. Acting the present, enjoy it and make it meaningful.

The little 'Farewell' suggests ironical situation or irony of life. The poet does not like to leave the Earth and bid farewell but he has to by force. He is not ready to die because he wants to enjoy the sensory activities here but he is compelled to say farewell. This shows the disparity between human wish or desire and the actuality.

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