In A Poet’s Glossary, Edward Hirsch writes that translation is “a necessity, the only way of bridging the barriers of language.” To celebrate the translation of poetry during September’s National Translation Month—and year-round—we’ve put together this selection of poems in translation, as well as essays, lesson plans, and other resources.

Poems in Translation Alongside the Original

A Woman Sleeps on an Island” by Marjorie Agosín
translated from Spanish by Cola Franzen

In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles” by Francisco X. Alarcón
translated from Spanish by Francisco Aragón

Farewell” by Francisca Aguirre
translated from Spanish by Ana Valverde Osan

Natural Criminal” by Francisco X. Alarcón
translated from Spanish by Francisco Aragón

White Chairs” by Krystyna Dąbrowska
translated from Polish by Karen Kovacik

Like You” by Roque Dalton
translated from Spanish by Jack Hirschman

from The Diary of Kaspar Hauser by Paolo Febbraro
translated from Italian by Anthony Molino
 
from Names of the Lion by Ibn Khalawayh
translated from Arabic by David Larsen
 
Romance Sonambulo” by Federico García Lorca
translated from Spanish by William Bryant Logan

The Sky Over My Mother’s House” by Jaime Manrique
translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman

1958” by Pablo Medina
translated from Spanish by Eloisa Amezcua and Pablo Medina

VIII” by Diego Alfaro Palma
translated from Spanish by Lucian Mattison

Carrying Our Words” by Ofelia Zepeda
translated from O’odham by the poet