Original Spanish My Translation Del salón en el ángulo oscuro, In a dark corner of the room, de su dueña tal vez olvidada, perhaps forgotten by its owner, silenciosa y cubierta de polvo silent and covered with dust, veíase el arpa. a harp …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “As a breeze that sharpens the blood” (Rhyme 6)
Original Spanish My Translation Como la brisa que la sangre orea As a breeze that sharpens the blood sobre el oscuro campo de batalla, above the shadowy fields of battle, cargada de perfumes y armonías they fill with perfumes and harmonies en el silencio de …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “Spirit without name” (Rhyme V)
Original Spanish My Translation Espíritu sin nombre, Spirit without name, indefinible esencia, indefinable essence, yo vivo con la vida I live a life sin formas de la idea. without the form of thought. Yo nado en el vacío, I swim in vacuum, del sol tiemblo …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “I am going to confess against my interests”
My Translation Rhyme XXVI I am going to confess against my interests; but nevertheless, my love, I think, as you, the only ode of worth is written on the back of a banknote. No doubt some fool who hears it gets …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s Rhyme IV, “There will be poetry”
My Translation Rhyme IV Do not say the treasury is exhausted, lacking topics, that the lyre is silent; there may not be poets, but always— there will be poetry. While the waves, kissed by light, throb and ignite, while the sun tears the …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “Strange jolt that stirs ideas”
My Translation Rhyme III Strange jolt that stirs ideas, a hurricane driving the waves in droves. Murmur of the soul that soars and grows, a muffled volcano announcing the blow. Deformed silhouettes of impossible beings; landscapes appearing as through a screen. Melting colors that mimic …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “Flying arrow crossing, ~ thrown by chance”
My Translation Rhyme II Flying arrow crossing, thrown by chance, trembling, with no one knowing where it’ll land; dry tree leaf, snatched by wind, and no one guessing the rut where it’ll return to dust; giant wave ravaged by wind and pushed to sea, rolling …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer: “I know a hymn, giant and strange”
A nice musical version: My Translation Rhyme 1 By Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer I know a hymn, giant and strange, that sounds the dawn of the night of souls, and these pages are that hymn, a rhythm of dilating air and shadows. I wanted to write …
Read MoreGustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s “When they said I felt the cold”
This video’s musical version is quite good: My Translation Rhyme 42 When they said it, I felt the cold of a steel blade in my bowels I leaned against the wall, in an instant losing consciousness of where I was. Night fell on my spirit, …
Read MorePablo Neruda’s “Matilda, name of plant or stone or wine”
My Translation Matilda, name of plant or stone or wine, born of earth, and solid, word in which the dawn is rising, whose summer bursts the light of lemons. In this name runs the wooden ships surrounded by swarms of fire naval blue and these …
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