Antonio Ballester; Alfonso Albacete; Eva Ruiz; Federico Chico

“Song of the Antiaircraft Gunner”

2013

Side of Calle Sauce

This mural is the work of well-known painter Antonio Ballester, painted in the spring of 1976 as a vindication of freedom. Ballester and Alfonso Albacete restored the mural in 2013. This painting, with various details, was completed by Orihuela painters Eva Ruiz and Federico Chico.

The mural depicts a portrait of Miguel Hernández, almond trees and planes. In 2013 their tribute to the poet was reborn, inspired in the poem Song of the Antiaircraft Gunner.

Que nunca, nunca, nunca

su tenebroso vuelo
podrá ser confundido
con el de los jilgueros.
Que asaltan las palomas
sin hiel. Que van sedientos
de sangre, sangre, sangre,
de cuerpos, cuerpos, cuerpos.

Que el mundo no es el mundo.
Que el cielo no es el cielo,
sino el rincón del crimen
más negro, negro, negro…