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Ramón López Velarde (1888–1921): Tenías un Rebozo de Seda
Translated by Timothy Adès
Tenías un rebozo en que lo blanco
iba sobre lo gris con gentileza
para hacer a los ojos que te amaban
un festejo de nieve en la maleza.Del rebozo en la seda me anegaba
con fé, como en un golfo intenso y puro,
a oler abiertas rosas del presente
y hermético botones del futuro.(En abono de mi sinceridad
séame permitido un alegato:
entonces era yo seminarista
sin Baudelaire, sin rima y sin olfato).Guardas, flor del terruño aquel rebozo
de maleza y de nieve,
en cuya seda me dormí aspirando
la quinta esencia de tu espalda leve?
You had a silk shawl of two colors,
White on gray, such elegant layers
As to make for the eyes that loved you
A spreading of snow over briars.In the silk of the shawl I was drowning,
In faith, as in gulfs pure and deep:
Scent of roses full–blown, in the present;
Sealed buds of the future, asleep.Let me enter this plea as an earnest,
For it’s truth I desire to tell:
In the school for priests, we were lacking
Baudelaire, rhyme, sense of smell.Do you keep it, dear flower of my country,
That shawl of briars and snow?
Asleep on those silks I was breathing
Your neck’s quintessence of dew!
Translation: copyright © Timothy Adès.