| VIAXEIRO | TRAVELLER |
| Ramiro Fonte | tr. Richard Bramah, Helen Buffery, Benigno Fernández Salgado & John Rutherford - (from Galician) |
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Neste lugar estraño Doce lúas penou. Tres regatos partiron. Un foise cara a outono, Outro bicou os areais do verán e as quillas vencidas, O terceiro dúas cidades E un xardín - O que dicimos Sur - . Pero ningún foi seereto manantío Onde bebe-la aurora e calma-la túa sede. O xofre, o fungo, o medo, Aquela dor de escadas a partir a ningures Non puideron borralo Das intimas badías nas que foi tan feliz. Pola xeira das choivas Volveu ós edificios Que baixan cara ó mar cando decembro, Cunha chaga de praias e no seu corazón (Ateigado ata as beiras de cúpulas e vento) Non había tristura. Coa moeda do canto ben pagou as súas débedas, Quixera ser ninguén nas páxinas que o Tempo Repasa como as luces da estación máis amada. Escoitou os oráculos e non quixo seguilos. E dura a soidade á beira dalgún porto namentras agardamos E a luzada desfai as teas da alta noite. (from Designium, 1984) |
In this strange place Twelve moons he suffered. Three streams left. One went straight to autumn, Another kissed the summer beaches and the broken keels, The third of them touched two cities And a garden (The one we call South). But none of them was the secret spring Where you can find the dawn and slake your thirst. Sulphur, toadstools, fear, That pain of flights of stairs that rise to nowhere: No one had been able to eradicate it all From those intimate bays in which he had been so happy. In the season of the rains He returned to the buildings Which come right down to the sea in December With open wounds of beaches, and in his heart (Brimming full with cupolas and breezes) There was no sadness. With the coin of his song he had well repaid his debts, He would like to be nobody on the pages that Time Reviews like the beacons of the dearest season. He heard the oracles and did not wish to follow them. Solitude is hard beside some harbour while we wait And the moonlight rends the canvas of the deep night. (from Designium, 1984) |
Copyright © Ramiro Fonte 1984; Trans. Copyright © Richard Bramah, Helen Buffery,