translated text // texto traducido
copyright // derechos de autor :: b. a. lederle
_
Translator’s preface: It’s pretty clear what La casada infiel is about, at least on the surface. And simply put, it was an easy translation. In fact, perhaps because the elements of passion and sex are very universal, this made it easier to translate words from their original Spanish to their English relatives. In terms of style, I simply kept with the sexual tension and carefree tone felt from the source text as I translated. No doubt that both the source text and the translated text leave much to the imagination.
_
And I took her toward the river,
believing that she was untouched,
but she had a husband.
It was the night of the Festival of Santiago
and because they felt obligated, 5
they put out the lanterns,
and the crickets ignited in the night.
In the farthest corners,
I touched her sleeping breasts
and they opened up to me immediately 10
like bunches of hyacinth.
The starch of her skirt,
resounded in my ears,
like a piece of silk
ripped up by ten knives. 15
Without the silver light in their branches
the trees had grown enormous
and a horizon of dogs
were barking far from the river
Past the blackberry thistles, 20
past the rushes and hawthorns,
under her mane of hair
I made an indent in the earth.
I took off my tie
She her dress 25
Off went my holster
Off went her corset and bodice
Neither flowers nor shells
have skin so soft;
neither do crystals gleaming 30
with brilliant moonlight.
Her muscles escaped me
like startled fish,
half full of fire,
the other shivering cold. 35
That night I ran
the best of the paths,
mounted without stirrups or saddle
on the best horse of them all.
And I don’t want to say to any man 40
the things that she said to me.
Mutual understanding
makes me be very restrained.
Dirty from kisses and sand
I took her myself from the river. 45
The blades of the irises
battled with the wind.
I behaved like who I really am.
Like a genuine gypsy.
I gave her a sewing kit, 50
large, made from straw-colored satin
and I didn’t want to fall in love
because having a husband
she told me that she was untouched
when I took her to the river. 55
_
Translator’s preface: It’s pretty clear what La casada infiel is about, at least on the surface. And simply put, it was an easy translation. In fact, perhaps because the elements of passion and sex are very universal, this made it easier to translate words from their original Spanish to their English relatives. In terms of style, I simply kept with the sexual tension and carefree tone felt from the source text as I translated. No doubt that both the source text and the translated text leave much to the imagination.
_
And I took her toward the river,
believing that she was untouched,
but she had a husband.
It was the night of the Festival of Santiago
and because they felt obligated, 5
they put out the lanterns,
and the crickets ignited in the night.
In the farthest corners,
I touched her sleeping breasts
and they opened up to me immediately 10
like bunches of hyacinth.
The starch of her skirt,
resounded in my ears,
like a piece of silk
ripped up by ten knives. 15
Without the silver light in their branches
the trees had grown enormous
and a horizon of dogs
were barking far from the river
Past the blackberry thistles, 20
past the rushes and hawthorns,
under her mane of hair
I made an indent in the earth.
I took off my tie
She her dress 25
Off went my holster
Off went her corset and bodice
Neither flowers nor shells
have skin so soft;
neither do crystals gleaming 30
with brilliant moonlight.
Her muscles escaped me
like startled fish,
half full of fire,
the other shivering cold. 35
That night I ran
the best of the paths,
mounted without stirrups or saddle
on the best horse of them all.
And I don’t want to say to any man 40
the things that she said to me.
Mutual understanding
makes me be very restrained.
Dirty from kisses and sand
I took her myself from the river. 45
The blades of the irises
battled with the wind.
I behaved like who I really am.
Like a genuine gypsy.
I gave her a sewing kit, 50
large, made from straw-colored satin
and I didn’t want to fall in love
because having a husband
she told me that she was untouched
when I took her to the river. 55
No comments:
Post a Comment