Coit Tower Poetry Club

Join the Coit Tower Poetry Club with a reading on the back lawn of Coit Tower.

This month’s featured poet, Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957)

Bio: Gabriela Mistral (the pseudonym of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) was a Chilean poet, educator, and diplomat who became the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Born in a small village in the Andes, her early life was shaped by the rugged beauty of the Elqui Valley and the influence of her grandmother’s Bible readings.

Mistral’s work is deeply rooted in the themes of motherhood, sorrow, and a profound empathy for the marginalized—specifically children, women, and the poor. Beyond her literary success, she was a transformative educator who helped reorganize the rural school systems in Mexico and served as a cultural representative for Chile across the globe. Her poetry often possesses a ritualistic, prayer-like quality, blending intense emotional honesty with a spiritual, Franciscan worldview.

Selected Poem: Tiny Feet (Piececitos)

One of Mistral’s most famous works, this poem exemplifies her lifelong advocacy for children and her ability to find sacredness in the humble and the suffering.

Piececitos

Piececitos de niño, azulosos de frío, ¡cómo os ven y no os cubren, Dios mío!

¡Piececitos heridos por los guijarros todos, ultrajados de nieves y lodos!

El hombre ciego ignora que por donde pasáis, una flor de luz viva dejáis;

que allí donde ponéis la plantita sangrante, el nardo nace más fragante.

Sed, puesto que marcháis por los caminos rectos, heroicos como sois perfectos.

Piececitos de niño, dos joyitas sufrientes, ¡cómo pasan sin veros las gentes!

Translation: Tiny Feet

Tiny feet of children, blue with the cold, how can they see you and not cover you, my God!

Tiny feet wounded by every stone, abused by the snow and the mud!

Man, being blind, ignores that where you step, a flower of bright light you leave;

that there where you place your bleeding little sole, the tuberose grows more fragrant.

Be, since you walk along the straight paths, heroic as you are perfect.

Tiny feet of children, two suffering little jewels, how can the people pass without seeing you!