Wednesday, January 11, 2006

'Gacela of the Terrible Presence'


I want the water thrown out from its channel.
I want the wind torn up from its valleys.

I want the eyes of night to be as vanquished
as my heart without its yellow-haired flower;

the oxen to cry out beneath the great leaves
where the hidden worm embraces death in the shadow;

and the skull's teeth catches at the light
like a silken torrent of golden coins.

I watch the pain, the night's affliction,
entwined and wrestling with the mid-day.

It endures the sinking death of green venom
as these crumbling arches bear the ruin of time.

But do not show me the purity of your nakedness
like a black cactus standing free in the rushes.

You relinquish me to dark planets of desire,
Yet you will not teach me the coolness of your waist.

....by Federico Garcia Lorca; translated by FossilGuy, 1982
.....photo by FossilGuy, 'Dark Planet' (2004)

Comments:
Is this also your translation? I bet you got a big A+ on that 5 credit course!
 
I did! Bulked it out with additional sections (i.e., one on the Spanish Civil War). Five easy credits.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?