I must clarify that the English translation of the poems, originally in Spanish and Japanese, have the terrible weakness that they are simple literal translations, lacking the necessary poetic reworking to adjust the metric, rhyme and cadence that they have in their original languages .
Despite that, the best possible work has been done within my limited capabilities and I hope that publicizing the translation of this work will be of benefit to all.
Source: Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria)
English: |
You are like the Transparent NightAbove the restless nightyou were serene. On your shoulders white like sea foam the Ursa Major spilled its flickering blue. On the land of volcanic bases you raised your river slenderness to the air, flexible as the meanders of the Yodogawa or like the green shore of the fertile Kiso. It was the night of a transparent blue and under it you reigned haughty as a cryptocurrency before the grave of a god. The frame of mystery surrounded your smile that sometimes laughs under your hair and they would sing along the paths of the breeze. A melancholic light was born from your eyes that became unfathomable as the whole essence of your presence itself. All this restless night rest in the flow of your hair that get blacker to reign over silence and on the gloom that crowns the mountains until stopping at the threshold of the pine forests. You are from Suiko's lineage or do you come from a remote and lonely ebisu? But here on this transparent May night you are a sign of light, you are like these pines the soul of the earth. |
Spanish: |
Eres como la Noche TransparenteSobre la noche conmovidaestabas tú serena. Sobre tus hombros albos como espuma marina derramaba su titilante azul la Osa Mayor. Sobre la tierra de volcánicas bases alzabas hacia el aire tu esbeltez fluvial, flexible como los meandros del Yodogawa o como las verdes riberas del Kiso fecundante. Era la noche de un azul transparente y bajo ella reinabas tú altiva como una criptomeria ante la tumba de de un dios. El marco del misterio rodeaba tu sonrisa que a veces se hacia risa bajo tu cabellera y se iba a cantar por los caminos de la brisa. Una luz melancólica nacía de tus ojos que se hacian insondables como toda la esencia de tu presencia misma. Toda esta noche conmovida reposa en el caudal de tus cabellos que se hacen más negros para reinar sobre el silencio y sobre la penumbra que corona los montes hasta detenerse en el umbral de los pinares. Eres tu de la alcurnia de Suiko o acaso vienes de un ebisu remoto y solitario? Pero aquí en esta noche de mayo transparente eres signo de luz, eres como estos pinos el alma de la tierra. |
Japanese: |
君はすき通る夜のごとしたゆたう夜に君はしっとり•消ちついている。 海の泡のように白い君の肩の上に 大熊座がたゆたうW•い光をまきちらす。 火山性の岩磐の土地の上に 淀川のうねりのように，あるいは肥沃な 木曾川の緑の川岸のように流れる しなやかな君の容姿を 君は空に向ってさし上げる。 君はすき通る靑色をした夜そのものだ そして神の墓の前にはえている杉の木のような 高设な君は夜の下に君臨したのだ。 神秘の額ぶちが君の微笑をかこんでいた それは時には君の下げ髪の下で高笑となり そよ風の通りみちをたどって歌い出しそうだった。 君のいのちの本質そのもののように 底知れず奥深くなるのが常であった君の目から 薆攒な光が生れ出て来た。 たゆたうこの夜はそっくり全部 君の髮の毛の奔流の中でやすらっている 挺の流れは夜のしじまを，また山々に覆いかぶさるうすら影を 支配しようとして，一九替热くなり ついには松林の入口でとまっている。 君は推古女帝の血統なのか，それとも多分 はるか昔の孤独な出比須神の子孫なのか？ しかしここ，透明の五月のこの夜では 君は光のシンボルであり， 地の精であるこれらの松の木のようだ。 |
Due to very different circumstances, I found myself with a book that I had saved, it is a somewhat peculiar poetry book in my library, since it is the bilingual edition in Spanish and Japanese of the Venezuelan poet Pascual Venegas Filardo. The work was published for the first time in 1961, but this one I have here is the 1968 edition, published in Kyoto by Gaikokugo Daigaku and consists of 76 pages, bound in hardcover.
The foreword to this book of poems was written by the Venezuelan Ambassador to Japan, J. M. Pérez Morales. In fact, what is most curious to me is that the book I have was from the embassy library ... don't go after me with the excommunication order for stealing books, I really didn't! I think the book was disincorporated or something similar, and then it passed through several hands until it came to me.
I have, to some extent, some affinity with some traits of Eastern cultures, there are several things that I like and in recent times I dusted off a few of them. I thought about checking if the book was available to share, but I only found fragments online, hence the idea of digitizing it and applying OCR to it to share it as it is in print, in both languages. Later on a suggestion from a reader, I decided to translate it into English, even if it is just to give an idea of what the beautiful poems in this book want to express.
Fuentes:
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