Sunday, February 14, 2016

Ode to the Wave: A Love Poem by Pablo Neruda


English Translation by Ilan Stavans

Once more my verse goes
toward the wave

I can't stop singing
to you, wave, a thousand times a thousand,
a thousand times,
oh fugitive bride of the ocean,
slim
green
Venus
you raise
your bell
and topple
lilies
at the top.

Oh incessant
sheet
shake
by
the
loneliness
of the wind,
erect like a
see-through
statue
a thousand times a thousand
crystallized, crystalline,
and then
all the salt thrown to the ground:
movement
turns you
into foam
and the sea foam
is turgidly reconstructed
and redone again.



On other occasions,
horse,
pure mare,
cyclonic
and winged,
with the horsehair
burning in whiteness
in the ire of the air
in movement,
you slip, jump, run,
driving the sled
of the sea's snow.



















Wave, wave, wave,
a thousand times a thousand
defeated, a thousand
times a thousand times erected
and spilled:
alive
wave,
a thousand times immortal,
wave.
























Otra vez  a la ola
va mi verso.

No puedo
dejar mil veces mil,
mil veces, ola,
de cantarte,
oh novia fugitive del océano,
delgada
venus
verde
levantas
tu campana
y en lo alto
derribas
azucenas.
























Oh
lámina
incesante
sacudida
por
la
soledad
del viento,
erigida como una
estatua
transparente
mil veces mil
cristalizada, cristalina,
y luego
toda la sal al suelo:
el movimiento
se convierte
en espuma
y de la espuma el mar
se reconstruye
y de nuevo resurge la turgencia

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Otras veces,
caballo,
yegua pura,
ciclónica
y alada,
con las crines
ardiendo de blancura
en la ira del aire
en movimiento,
resbalas, saltas, corres
conduciendo el trineo
de la nieve marina.
 
Ola, ola, ola,
mi veces mil
vencida, mil
veces mi erecta
y derramada:
viva
la ola,
mil veces siempreviva
la ola.
  
 



 
(photos in this blog: Olga García Echeverría)

1 comment:

  1. Olá amei seu blog também postei sobre Pablo Neruda
    Convido para visitar meu blog- Um abraço carinhoso

    ReplyDelete

Thank you! Comments on last week's posts are Moderated.