RETRATO DE ROBERT GRAVES POR JOHN ULBRITCH (1968)
EN Ca N’Alluny
(5-08-2022)
WITH ALL LOST AND NOTHING TO PROVE
THAT EVEN NOTHING CAN BE THROUGH LOVE
LAURA RIDING
(FROM LOVE AS LOVE, DEATH AS DEATH)
The God Called Poetry
Now I begin to know at last,
These nights when I sit down to rhyme,
The form and measure of that vast
God we call Poetry, he who stoops
And leaps me through his paper hoops
A little higher every time.
Tempts me to think I’ll grow a proper
Singing cricket or grass-hopper
Making prodigious jumps in air
While shaken crowds about me stare
Aghast, and I sing, growing bolder
To fly up on my master’s shoulder
Rustling the thick stands of his hair.
He is older than the seas,
Older than the plains and hills,
And older than the light that spills
From the sun’s hot wheel on these.
He wakes the gale that tears your trees,
He sings to you from window sills.
At you he roars, or he will coo,
He shouts and screams when hell is hot,
Riding on the shell and shot.
He smites you down, he succours you,
And where you seek him, he is not.
To-day I see he has two heads
Like Janus—calm, benignant, this;
That, grim and scowling: his beard spreads
From chin to chin: this god has power
Immeasurable at every hour:
He first taight lovers how to kiss,
He brings down sunshine after shower,
Thunder and hate are his also,
He is YES and he is NO.
The black beard spoke and said to me,
‘Human fraility though you be,
Yet shout and crack your whip, be harsh!
They’ll obey you in the end:
Hill and field, river and marsh
Shall obey you, hop and skip
At the terrour of your whip,
To your gales of anger bend.’
The pale beard spoke and said in turn
‘True: a prize goes to the stern,
But sing and laugh and easily run
Through the wide airs of my plain,
Bathe in my waters, drink my sun,
And draw my creatures with soft song;
They shall follow you along
Graciously with no doubt or pain.’
Then speaking from his double head
The glorious fearful monster said
‘I am YES and I am NO,
Black as pitch and white as snow,
Love me, hate me, reconcile
Hate with love, perfect with vile,
So equal justice shall be done
And life shared between moon and sun.
Nature for you shall curse or smile:
A poet you shall be, my son.’
MÁS VIEJO QUE LOS MARES,
MAS ANCIANO QUE LAS LLANURAS Y MONTAÑAS,
Y MÁS AÑOSO QUE LA LUZ QUE IRRADIA SOBRE ELLOS
DESDE LA ARDIENTE RUEDA DEL SOL.
ÉL DESPIERTA LA TORMENTA QUE DERRIBA TUS ÁRBOLES
EL TE CANTA DESDE LA BASE DE UNA VENTANA
(...)
HOY VEO QUE TIENE DOS CABEZAS
COMO JANO-TRANQUILA Y BENIGNA, ESTA;
TEMIBLE Y AIRADA AQUELLA: SU BARBA SE EXTIENDE
DE MEJILLA A MEJILLA
(...)
EL TRUENO Y EL ODIO SON SUYOS TAMBIÉN
ÉL ES SÍ Y ÉL ES NO
LA BARBA NEGRA HABLÓ Y ME DIJO,
“AUNQUE SEAS FRAGILIDAD HUMANA,
RESTALLA Y DESCARGA TU LÁTIGO, SÉ DURO!
ELLOS TE OBEDECERÁN AL FIN:
MONTAÑA Y CAMPO, RÍO Y RIBERA
TE OBEDECERÁN, SALTARÁN Y SE MOVERÁN
AL TERROR DE TU LÁTIGO,
A TUS TORMENTAS DE IRA SE DOBLEGARÁN”
LA BARBA PÁLIDA HABLÓ Y DIJO A SU VEZ
“EN VERDAD: UNA RECOMPENSA VA A PARAR AL SEVERO,
PERO LA CANCIÓN Y LA RISA Y LA FACILIDAD CORREN
A TRAVÉS DE LOS ANCHOS AIRES DE MI LLANURA,
SE BAÑAN EN MIS AGUAS, BEBEN MI SOL,
Y DISPONEN MIS CRIATURAS CON CANCIÓN SUAVE:
ELLAS TE SEGUIRÁN MIENTRAS
GRACIOSAMENTE SIN DUDA NI PENA”
ENTONCES HABLANDO DESDE SU DOBLE CABEZA
EL MONSTRUO GLORIOSO Y TEMIBLE DIJO:
“YO SOY EL SÍ Y EL NO,
NEGRO COMO LA BREA Y BLANCO COMO LA NIEVE,
ÁMAME, ÓDIAME, RECONCILIA
AMOR Y ODIO, LO PERFECTO Y LO VIL,
ASÍ LA JUSTICIA IMPARCIAL SE CUMPLIRÁ
Y LA VIDA DISTRIBUIDA ENTRE LA LUNA Y EL SOL.
LA NATURALEZA TE MALDECIRÁ O SONREIRÁ:
SERÁS UN POETA, HIJO MÍO”
("UN DIOS LLAMADO POESÍA", FRAGMENTO. TRADUCCIÓN GUILLERMO RUIZ)
LA VERDAD ES QUE SOLAMENTE EL MINERAL DE ORO PUEDE CONVERTIRSE EN ORO; SOLAMENTE LA POESÍA EN POEMAS
RG
Henry David Thoreau
( "A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"; Friday)
Ulbritch, a great american painter, who lived and died in Galilea, Mallorca.
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