B003EEN38U EBOK The Complete Poetry A Bilingual Edition nodrm
Page 8
- Si, muy nublado, -me responde.
Mas lejos todavia, he dicho a otro:
-Ha abierto sol.
Y este me arguye:
-Un sol a medias.
jDonde podre it que no haya un espejo lateral, cuya superficie viene a darme de frente, por mucho que yo avance de lado y mire yo de frente!
A los lados del hombre van y vienen bellos absurdos, premiosa caballeria suelta, que reclama cabestro, nttmero y jinete. Mas los hombres aman poner el freno por amor al jinete y no por amor al animal. Yo he de poner el freno, tan solo por amor al animal. Y nadie sentira lo que yo siento. Y nadie ha de poder ya suplantarme.
[1927/19281
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE EYES AND THE GAZE
Often I have seen things that others have also seen. This inspires me with a subtle, tiptoeing anger, into whose intimate presence blood flows from my solidary flanks.
-The sun has broken through,- I say to a man.
And he's responded to me:
-Yes. A sweet, fallow sun.
I had felt that the sun truly is sweet and fallow. So I want to ask another man what he knows about this sun. He confirmed my impression and this confirmation hurts me, a vague hurt that digs in under my ribs. Is it not, then, certain that I was facing the sun as it broke through? And, this being the case, that man had emerged as from a side mirror, without risking anything, to murmur at my side: "Yes. A sweet, fallow sun." An adjective stands out on each side of my temples. No. I will ask another man about this sun. The first one had lied or joked, as if to supplant me.
-The sun has broken through,- I say to another man.
-Yes, very overcast,-he responds.
Even further away, I've said to another:
-The sun has broken through.
And this one argues:
-An incomplete sun.
Where can I go where there will be no side mirror, whose surface faces me headon, no matter how much I advance sideways and look straight ahead!
Beautiful absurdities appear alongside a man and disappear, an urgent agile steed, requiring a halter, number, and rider. But men love to bridle for love of the rider and not for love of the animal. And no one will feel what I feel. And no one will have the power now to supplant me.
PIEDRA NEGRA SOBRE UNA PIEDRA BLANCA
BLACK STONE ON A WHITE STONE
SALUTACION ANGELICA
ANGELIC SALUTATION
GLEBA
GLEBE
EPISTOLA A LOS TRANSEUNTES
EPISTLE TO THE PASSERSBY
PRIMAVERA TUBEROSA
TUBEROUS SPRING
Execrable sistema, clima en nombre del cielo, del bronquio y la quebrada, la cantidad enorme de dinero que cuesta el ser pobre ...
Abominable system, climate in the name of heaven, of the bronchus and the gorge, the incredible amount of money that it takes to be poor ...
LA RUEDA DEL HAMBRIENTO
THE HUNGRY MAN'S RACK
PARIS, OCTUBRE 1936
PARIS, OCTOBER 1936
PIENSAN LOS VIEJOS ASNOS
OLD ASSES THINKING
TELURICA Y MAGNETICA
TELLURIC AND MAGNETIC
II
II
POEMA PARA SER LEIDO Y CANTADO
POEM TO BE READ AND SUNG
TERREMOTO
EARTH QUAKE
TRASPIf ENTRE DOS ESTRELLAS
STUMBLE BETWEEN TWO STARS
DESPEDIDA RECORDANDO UN ADIOS
FAREWELL REMEMBERING A GOOD-BYE
EL LIBRO DE LA NATURALEZA
THE BOOK OF NATURE
MARCHA NUPCIAL
WEDDING MARCH
INTENSIDAD Y ALTURA
INTENSITY AND HEIGHT
GUITARRA
GUITAR
ANIVERSARIO
ANNIVERSARY
PANTE O N
PANTHEON
DOS NINOS ANHELANTES
TWO YEARNING CHILDREN
LOS NUEVE MONSTRUOS
THE NINE MONSTERS
PALMAS Y GUITARRA
CLAPPING AND GUITAR
EL ALMA QUE SUFRIO DE SER SU CUERPO
THE SOUL THAT SUFFERED FROM BEING ITS BODY
YUNTAS
YOKES
Algo to identifica con el que se aleja de ti, y es la facultad comttn de volver: de ahi to mas grande pesadumbre.
Algo to separa del que se queda contigo, y es la esclavitud comttn de partir: de ahi tus mas nimios regocijos.
Me dirijo, en esta forma, a las individualidades colectivas, tanto como a las colec- tividades individuales y a los que, entre unas y otras, yacen marchando al son de las fronteras o, simplemente, marcan el paso inmovil en el borde del mundo.
Algo tipicamente neutro, de inexorablemente neutro, interponese entre el ladron y su victima. Esto, asimismo, puede discernirse tratandose del cirujano y del paciente. Horrible medialuna, convexa y solar, cobija a unos y otros. Porque el objeto hurtado tiene tambien su peso indiferente, y el organo intervenido, tambien su grasa triste.
tQue hay de mas desesperante en la tierra, que la imposibilidad en que se halla el hombre feliz de ser infortunado y el hombre bueno, de ser malvado?
jAlejarse! jQuedarse! jVolver! jPartir! Toda la mecanica social cabe en estas palabras.
[24 Nov. 19371
Something identifies you with the one who leaves you, and it is the common power to return: thus your greatest sorrow.
Something separates you from the one who remains with you, and it is the common slavery of departing: thus your meagerest rejoicing.
I address myself, in this way, to collective individualities, as well as to individual collectivities and to those who, between the two, lie marching to the sound of the frontiers or, simply, mark time without moving at the edge of the world.
Something typically neuter, inexorably neuter, comes between the thief and his victim. This, likewise, can be noticed in the relationship between the surgeon and the patient. A horrible half-moon, convex and solar, covers both of them. For the stolen object has also its indifferent weight, and the operated on organ, also its sad fat.
What on earth is more exasperating, than the impossibility for the happy man to be unlucky and the good man, to be wicked?
To leave! To remain! To return! To depart! The whole social mechanism fits in these words.
En suma, no poseo para expresar mi vida, sino mi muerte.
Y, despues de todo, al cabo de la escalonada naturaleza y del gorrion en bloque, me duermo, mano a mano con mi sombra.
Y, al descender del acto venerable y del otro gemido, me reposo pensando en la marcha imperterrita del tiempo.
tPor que la cuerda, entonces, si el aire es tan sencillo? tPara que la cadena, si existe el hierro por si solo?
Cesar Vallejo, el acento con que auras, el verbo con que escribes, el vientecillo con que oyes, solo saben de ti por to garganta.
Cesar Vallejo, postrate, por eso, con indistinto orgullo, con talamo de ornamen- tales aspides y exagonales ecos.
Restitiiyete al corporeo panal, a la beldad; aroma los florecidos corchos, cierra ambas grutas al sanudo antropoide; repara, en fin, to antipatico venado; tente pena.
jQue no hay cosa mas densa que el odio en voz pasiva, ni mas misera ubre que el amor!
jQue ya no puedo andar, sino en dos harpas!
jQue ya no me conoces, sino porque to sigo instrumental, prolijamente!
jQue ya no doy gusanos, sino breves!
jQue ya to implico tanto, que medio que to afilas!
jQue ya llevo unas timidas legumbres y otras bravas!
Pues el afecto que quiebrase de noche en mis bronquios, lo trajeron de dia ocul- tos deanes y, si amanezco palido, es por mi obra: y, si anochezco rojo, por mi obrero. Ello explica, igualmente, estos cansancios mios y estos despojos, mis famosos tios. Ello explica, en fin, esta lagrima que brindo por la dicha de los hombres.
In short, I have nothing with which to express my life, except my death.
And, after everything, at the end of graded nature and of
the sparrow in bloc, I sleep, hand in hand with my shadow.
And, upon descending from the venerable act and from the other moan, I repose thinking about the inexorable march of time.
Why the rope, then, if air is so simple? What is the chain for, if iron exists on its own?
Cesar Vallejo, the accent with which you love, the language with which you write, the light wind with which you hear, only know of you through your throat.
Cesar Vallejo, prostrate yourself, therefore, with vague pride, with a nuptial bed of ornamental asps and hexagonal echoes.
Return to the corporeal honeycomb, to beauty; aromatize the blossomed corks, close both grottoes to the enraged anthropoid; mend, finally, your unpleasant stag; feel sorry for yourself.
For there is nothing denser than the hate in a passive voice, no stingier udder than love!
For I'm no longer able to walk, except on two harps!
For you no longer know me, unless instrumentally, longwindedly, I follow you!
For I no longer issue worms, but briefs!
For I now implicate you so much, you almost become sharp!
For I now carry some timid vegetables and others that are fierce!
So the affection that ruptures at night in my bronchia, was brought during the day by occult deans and, if I wake up pale, it's because of my work: and, if I go to sleep red, because of my worker. This explains, equally, this weariness of mine and these spoils, my famous uncles. This explains, finally, this tear that I toast to the happiness of men.
LOS DESGRACIADOS
THE WRETCHED
SERMON SOBRE LA MUERTE
SERMON ON DEATH
I
HIMNO A LOS VOLUNTARIOS DE LA REPUBLICA
I
HYMN TO THE VOLUNTEERS FOR THE REPUBLIC
II
BATALLAS
II
BATTLES
III
III
IV
IV
V
V
VI
CORTEJO TRAS LA TOMA DE BILBAO
VI
CORTEGE AFTER THE CAPTURE OF BILBAO
VII
VII
VIII
VIII
IX
PEQUENO RESPONSO A UN HEROE DE LA REPUBLICA
IX
SHORT PRAYER FOR A LOYALIST HERO
X
INVIERNO EN LA BATALLA DE TERUEL
X
WINTER DURING THE BATTLE FOR TERUEL
XI
XI
XII
MASA
XII
MASS
XIII
REDOBLE FUNEBRE A LOS ESCOMBROS DE DURANGO
XIII
FUNEREAL DRUMROLL FOR THE RUINS OF DURANGO
XIV
XIV
xv
ESPANA, APARTA DE MI ESTE CALIZ
xv
SPAIN, TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME
The Spanish text used here is that to be found in Cesar Vallejo, Obras completas, vol. 1, Obra poetica, edited and annotated by Ricardo Gonzalez Vigil (Lima: Banco de Credito del Peru, 1991), henceforth identified in this book as the RG V edition. Of the numerous single-volume editions of Vallejo's poetry, the RG V is the most recent and is authoritative.
Uncommon words in the translations are defined in these notes only if they are not listed in the second or third edition of Webster's New International Dictionary. The translations generallyfol- low Vallejo's punctuation, even when it is irregular (and a bit out of sync with what might be the English equivalent), because it is often intrinsic to the way a phrase or line should be voiced.
THE BLACK HERALDS
The poems in Cesar Vallejo's first book, Los heraldos negros, were written between 1915 and 1918. While the book was published in 1918, it was not distributed until July 1919. It appears that the distribution delay came about because Vallejo was waiting for Abraham Valdelomar, a well-known Lima intellectual, to write a foreword, which Valdelomar never delivered. Vallejo paid for the edition himself. It received several long, favorable reviews in Lima and in Trujillo.
EPIGRAPH The gospel verse, quoted in Latin, is Matthew 19:12.
Sacred Defoliacity, (page 27)
TrrLE The word deshojacion in the title appears to be a coined word based on deshojadura, or deshojamiento, meaning "defoliation."
Nervestorm ofAnguish (page 31)
TITLE Nervazon appears to be a coined word based on nevazon (snowstorm, blizzard) and nervios (nerves).
........... ? (page 57)
all rituary The Spanish rituario (rituary) appears to have been coined from the word rite (rite).
Imperial Nostalgias, III (page 79)
corequenque A fabulous bird, which according to the Incans was discovered on a small lake at the foot of snow-covered Vilcanota. The Incans carefully extracted two feathers from its wings, which their sovereign then displayed as his insignia of supreme authority. The word is probably based on curiquingue (caracara).
Imperial Nostalgias, IV (page 79)
La Grama ... La Ramada La Grama is a rural horse track outside Trujillo, and La Ramada its sole grandstand. Apparently it had ceased to be active in Vallejo's time, becoming a sad, dilapidated place.
Ebony Leaves (page 8i)
tahuashando A neologism based on the Quechuan word tahua (four). Jose Cerna-Bazan, author of Sujeto a cambio: De las relaciones del texto y la sociedad en la escritura de Cesar Vallejo, has often wondered about this word, so he asked his father, Jose Diego Cerna Lopez (who, as part of his work, was often in the La Libertad area of the Peruvian sierra in the 1930s). His father told him: "Ah, yes, that word was used, or is still used, I should say, when we would arrive at an observation point, especially at a crossroads, with our mules, and we would look around to see if anyone else was coming down the road."
Cerna-Bazan mentions that when he read to his father Vallejo's line using the word, the latter said, "Sure, that's it-Vallejo is saying that this person is tahuashando."
Autochthonous Tercet, I (page 85)
yaravi A song in which indigenous and Spanish melodic elements have been fused. The word is a hybrid in tonality as well as spirit and appears to derive from the Incan harawi, which was adapted for religious hymns from the time of the conquest until the eighteenth century.
Quenaing A neologism based on quena, the term for a five-holed Quechuan flute (which once accompanied the yaravis).
the Pallas Beautifully adorned young women who perform group dances that were originally part of the religious festivals in Cuzco.
Autochthonous Tercet, III (page 87)
caja from Tayanga The caja is a musical instrument combining a kind of drum with a ditch reed (from which quenas can be made). Tayanga is a northern Peruvian town specializing in the fabrication of cajas.
huaino The most well-known and representative indigenous dance of Peru, with happy, flirtatious movements (and sometimes words).
Huaco (page 91)
coricanchas The Coricancha was the great Temple of the Sun in Cuzco; using the Incan walls as a base, the Spanish conquistadors built the cathedral of Santo Domingo. In the poem's fourth stanza, Vallejo suggests that the Coricancha of the Sun rises up against the cathedral.
Village Scene (page 97)
dronedongs This obscure Spanish neologism, dondonea, appears twice in Vallejo's poetry (the second time "The tip of man" in Human Poems). In his 1988 edition of Vallejo's Obra poetica, Americo Ferrari associates the neologism with the word doneo (which he defines as "flirtation" or "flattery"), but that meaning does not seem appropriate here. Gonzalez Vigil does not comment. Given the context, in which an Indian voice is compared to a cemetery bell, the word seems to refer to the bell clanging-or to be an attempt to fuse the sound of the Indian's voice with the sound of the bell. It is with this in mind that I have come up with dronedongs.
The Voice in the Mirror (page 105)
Brahacmanic Vallejo has placed an "ac" in the middle of the Spanish brahmanico (Br
ahmanic) to form the word brahacmanicos. Ferrari conjectures that the poet may have confused the spelling of the word with dracma (drachma). Gonzalez Vigil does not comment.