Translation of the poem by David Leo García, from the Spanish as published at Tenían viente años y estaban locos.
Tell me a color. Green. Another. Green.
A part of a house. Air.
A question. The question. A writer.
Mystery. What do you associate with a bird?
Mystery. And with a bird?
Infancy. And with grass?
Infancy. Tell me a color.
I don’t know. A country. Almost all of them.
A disease. All of them but mine.
What it’s come to here. The…you know,
the…what am I going to tell you, you know,
the same thing as always.
A string instrument. The pentagram.
A part of the body. Lungs.
A part of a house. Deterioration.
A reason to live? One, desire.
A disease? Disease.
A famous quote? ‘Of course’.
A reason? To die. A reason
to die? Not one, maybe. Desire.
Just a personal note here. I think this might be one of my favorite poems ever. Every time I read it, my head generates two distinct voices, and it becomes this wonderful conversation and each member has a drastically different personality. I imagine the questioner’s facial expressions as the questioned rattles off his replies in a sardonic tone. Check out more of David Leo García’s poetry, I find it extremely rewarding.
Traducción de un poema por David Leo García:
Translation of a poem by David Leo García:
It’s important because it’s happened,
it’s been an intense day -I wanted to be with you,
to be with others,
not to be,
I rewound a sunset
while the sun was rising,
you had your mind on aquarium dimensions.
Interrupting the trailer
of expectations
we stay till nine. You write me at nine, I’m late
come out to meet me in the tunnel,
hate and love, the ups and downs,
sometimes… And I endure the accident of having a body
and there’s everyone
and there’s your relief against the shirt
dotted with cells and stars,
Did I stay?
I ate your symmetry
and we loved each other like historians.
A gigantically new day.
I was and you will be,
there’s one at a time,
outside of memory everything happens at once,
everything makes sense - one sense at a time.
via AnimalitoInexpresivo
