“From my garden” POEMS - 1930

In this unpublished work, Father José Rafael Faría Bermúdez expresses all the vigor, interest, and affection of his youth. Following some contemporary advice, he deleted several poems of little literary value, added a few more, and subjected the remaining poems to a careful revision, some almost total; in others, he eliminated or corrected everything he found prosaic or commonplace, and he endeavored to carry out a smoothing and polishing process.

It's clear that the author's tastes were classical, something that permeates his entire work. When one is nurtured by the beauties of Horace and Virgil, of León, Garcilaso, and Lope, who could wrest this serene beauty from one's heart? This isn't a servile copy of themes, development, or turns of phrase, nor is it a stretched or stilted elaboration. What the author intended was to embrace the one true classicism, which has as its norm the balance of thought, feeling, and imagination; simplicity combined with elegance; and care in the choice and placement of words, to produce effects of musicality and grace.