This week, I'm looking at poetry in Spanish. I give you "Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint" by Federico Garcia Lorca. I've done my best at translating the first two stanzas.
Soneto de la dulce queja
Tengo miedo a perder la maravilla
de tus ojos de estatua y el acento
que de noche me pone en la mejilla
la solitaria rosa de tu aliento.
(I am afraid of losing the marvel
of your statue-eyes and the accent
put on my cheek at night
by the solitary rose of your breath.)
Tengo pena de ser en esta orilla
tronco sin ramas; y lo que más siento
es no tener la flor, pulpa o arcilla,
para el gusano de mi sufrimiento.
(I suffer by being on this shore,
a trunk without branches, and what I am most sorry for
is not having a flower, pulp or clay
for the worm of my suffering.)
Go here for the rest of the original poem in Spanish.
Go here for an English translation of the poem. This one is okay, as translations go. My only arguments are the use of "Never let me" in stanza one instead of "I am afraid", the use of "I am afraid" instead of "I suffer" in stanza two, and the use of "branches" in the last stanza, which I think should be "waters."
1 comment:
Wow! What a poem, and what an impressive skill! Thanks, Nancy!
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