Ignacio Snchez Mejas

Spanish bullfighter, author and patron of the arts, a man who loved culture, literature and music. He retired from the ring in 1927. At that time, the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and his friends Bergamin, Alberti and Guillen were guests at his estate where Mejias hosted them lavishly. He and Lorca became friends from then on. This period was before the Spanish Civil War and it would have been actually dangerous for these men to be known as homosexuals, so they could relax without pretence only in the private lives. In 1934, perhaps for material reasons or perhaps to recapture the excitement and thrill of danger, Mejias at 43 returned to the bullring. He had to lose about 30 lbs to even dress in his "suit of lights." During the season, he decided once more to retire when his contract was completed. At a bullfight at Manzanares on August 11, the toreador Domingo Ortega was wounded and requested Mejias to replace him. Mejias agreed, though with reservations. At the beginning of the corrida, he was gored in the thigh. He was moved to a hospital in Madrid where he died on the morning of 8/13/1934. Lorca was shattered by the news of his friend’s death and wrote a poem in September, "Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias." Published in November, it became famed as one of the most beautiful poems in the Spanish language. "Little stars of the night, Let me cross the bridge, How I want to see my Ignacio, Who is in his glowing chapel." Patricia Nell Warren later wrote a novel, "The Wild Man," about a homosexual bullfighter, inspired by the story of Ignacio Sanchez Mejias. Link to Wikipedia biography