20-07-2019
WALDEN, ECONOMÍA
VERSOS COMPLEMENTARIOS
LAS PRETENSIONES DE LA MEDIOCRIDAD
Tú presumes
demasiado, pobre y necesitado comparsa
Para reclamar un
puesto en el firmamento
Porque tu cabaña
humilde o tu refugio
Nutre alguna
virtud perezosa o pedante
Al gratuito sol o
en las sombras de los arroyos
Con raíces y
hierbas, donde tu mano derecha
Apartando de la
mente las pasiones humanas,
Sobre cuya base
florecen virtudes honestas,
Degrada la
naturaleza y acalla el sentido
Y como la Gorgona convierte en
piedra hombres activos
Nosotros no
necesitamos la imbécil compañía
De tu necesitada
moderación
O esa estupidez
antinatural
Que no conoce ni
la alegría ni el dolor; ni tu forzada
Falsamente exaltada
fortaleza pasiva
Por encima de la
activa. Ese ánimo bajo y abyecto
Que coloca sus
asientos en la mediocridad
Se convierte en vuestras serviles mentes; sino que avanzamos
Solo aquellas virtudes que admiten el exceso
Se convierte en vuestras serviles mentes; sino que avanzamos
Solo aquellas virtudes que admiten el exceso
Actos valientes, generosos, grandeza real,
Prudencia que todo lo ve, magnanimidad
Que no conoce frontera, y aquella virtud heroica
de la que la antigüedad no dejó nombre,
Sino ejemplos, como Hércules,
Aquiles, Teseo.
Vuelve a tu detestada celda,
Y cuando veas la nueva esfera iluminada,
No intentes sino conocer lo que fueron aquellas riquezas
(traducción Guillermo Ruiz)
Notes on the "Complemental Verse"
by René Pinet (Bahia,
Mexico)
"To some academicians, this
must have seemed Emile all over again.
It was not, of course. At
least, it was not Thoreau's intention, as was Rousseau's. Walden was not
even Thoreau's life-style when it was published ("I lived there two
years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life
again"). As metaphorical as it is ("labor enough to subdue and
cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh"), as lacking in compromise as it
seems (Thoreau was much compromised in the fight against slavery), much of the
discussion in chapter one is in real economic terms.
I think the inclusion
of "The pretensions of poverty" serves a double purpose: first, it
refuses debate by letting the blow pass, but acknowledging it -- an act,
I think, of great intellectual honesty. Second -- and I think in this
he was much less successful -- by warning its readers not to become the target
Carew aims at, and the first paragraph caricatures.
I think the real
lesson Thoreau intended is not his life-style; not even his two-year
prescription for cure. It is his attitude. And of this, as the
Editors of Time remind us, Walt Whitman's portrait is the best:
"Thoreau's lawlessness -- his dissent -- his going his own absolute road
let hell blaze all it chooses". This, I think, has been a
distinguishing mark of the American character, ever present in its folklore,
its politics, its classical and popular art, even in what Americans admire of
other cultures -- just watch, if not, Hallmark's production of Merlin."
