2.01.2010
Blas de Otero (c.1950)
Walking
For some time now there have been two worlds or ways
for man to walk, behind history or catching up with it:
propping up crippled ideas, laying down new foundations
on which to set life up.
And I saw the world as a sea churning with people, hanging
on to one another as they went down; and the world just
risen among broken tombs and inscriptions that lied.
I went out to the countryside and saw the sun drinking the
blood of millions of people who had been sacrificed brutally;
and I followed the road I found crowded with footsteps that
moved along calmly, sure of what was ahead of them.
Seven
My house, unfortunately, is a house,
a sock hanging from a line,
there I've written the saddest books,
and turned my face toward life, thank god.
This house, my friend, this house
is always sitting there, it just sits,
and in summer it gets chilly, and hot in winter,
(I suppose you believe that),
and I have come back, comrade, for a few days
to pick up my books, my records, my contracts
and I found my mother in the hall
and my sister in the living room
and myself reading in a corner,
friend, you have to understand, long days have gone by
and slow nights, comrade, since then.
What can I do, when I've seen the world from above
and even the clouds from above,
and I walked once around a small boy
in Pinar del Rio,
and he was so different
from Spanish children or the wiseguys of Paris,
something has been going on
in certain spots on this planet,
friend,
unfortunately, comrade, my house is still the same,
its not the same,
it contains more records, my friend,
and more peace and quiet, comrade,
and more love spoken in whispers, and it's seven now.
translated from the Spanish by Hardie St. Martin
For some time now there have been two worlds or ways
for man to walk, behind history or catching up with it:
propping up crippled ideas, laying down new foundations
on which to set life up.
And I saw the world as a sea churning with people, hanging
on to one another as they went down; and the world just
risen among broken tombs and inscriptions that lied.
I went out to the countryside and saw the sun drinking the
blood of millions of people who had been sacrificed brutally;
and I followed the road I found crowded with footsteps that
moved along calmly, sure of what was ahead of them.
Seven
My house, unfortunately, is a house,
a sock hanging from a line,
there I've written the saddest books,
and turned my face toward life, thank god.
This house, my friend, this house
is always sitting there, it just sits,
and in summer it gets chilly, and hot in winter,
(I suppose you believe that),
and I have come back, comrade, for a few days
to pick up my books, my records, my contracts
and I found my mother in the hall
and my sister in the living room
and myself reading in a corner,
friend, you have to understand, long days have gone by
and slow nights, comrade, since then.
What can I do, when I've seen the world from above
and even the clouds from above,
and I walked once around a small boy
in Pinar del Rio,
and he was so different
from Spanish children or the wiseguys of Paris,
something has been going on
in certain spots on this planet,
friend,
unfortunately, comrade, my house is still the same,
its not the same,
it contains more records, my friend,
and more peace and quiet, comrade,
and more love spoken in whispers, and it's seven now.
translated from the Spanish by Hardie St. Martin
1.31.2010
Sappho (c. 630 B.C.)
Fragment
You may forget but
Let me tell you
this: someone in
Some future time
will think of us
Fragment
We Shall enjoy it
As for him who finds
fault, may silliness
and sorrow take him!
Fragment
Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen;
some, men marching; some would say ships; but I say
she whom one loves best
is the loveliest. Light were the work to make this
plain to all, since she, who surpassed in beauty
all mortality, Helen, once forsaking
her lordly husband,
fled away to Troy-land across the water.
Not the thought of child nor beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.
Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitant to passion
as I am, remembering Anaktoria
who has gone from me
and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes than Lydia's chariots in all their glory
armored for battle.
translated from the Greek by Mary Barnard
You may forget but
Let me tell you
this: someone in
Some future time
will think of us
Fragment
We Shall enjoy it
As for him who finds
fault, may silliness
and sorrow take him!
Fragment
Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen
on the black earth is an array of horsemen;
some, men marching; some would say ships; but I say
she whom one loves best
is the loveliest. Light were the work to make this
plain to all, since she, who surpassed in beauty
all mortality, Helen, once forsaking
her lordly husband,
fled away to Troy-land across the water.
Not the thought of child nor beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.
Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitant to passion
as I am, remembering Anaktoria
who has gone from me
and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes than Lydia's chariots in all their glory
armored for battle.
translated from the Greek by Mary Barnard
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