poesia

One of our exercises in spanish is translating poetry, not prinicipally because we are romantic souls yearning to express ourselves but because poems are more managable than novels. our first attempt at a literal translation of this pablo neruda love poem is quite comic. we've included the spanish below as well.


One hundred love sonnets
XXXVI

My heart, queen of celery and of the trough,
little leopard of thread and onion,
I love to see your little empire shining,
arms of wax, of wine, of oil,

of garlic, of the earth through your open hands,
of the blue substance burning in your hands,
you turn my dreams toward salad,
the snake rolled into the hose.

You, with the lawnmower your scent rises,
you, in the direction of lather,
you, climbing my crazy ladders and stairs,

you, steering the form of my handwriting
and finding in the sand of the notebook
the lost letters yearning for your mouth.

p. neruda / tr. peterson & reese


Cien sonetos de amor
XXXVI

Corazón mío, reina de apio y de la artesa:
pequeña leoparda de hilo y la cebolla:
me gusto ver brillar tu imperio diminuto,
las armas de la cera, del vino, del aceite,

del ajo, de la tierra por tus manos abierta,
de las substancia azul encendida en tus manos,
de la transmigración de sueño a la ensalada,
del reptil enrollado en la manguera.

Tú, con tu podadora levantando el perfume,
tú, con la dirección del jabón en la espuma,
tú, subiendo mis locas escalas y escaleras,

tú, manejando el síntoma de mi caligrafía
y encontrando en la arena del cuaderno
las letras extraviadas que buscaban tu boca.

previously there was viernes
afterwards you have Dia de la Madre

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