Pablo Neruda Translated

Young Peasant Having Her Coffee, 1881

- Camille Pissarro

I just stumbled upon a book in which Pablo Neruda's sonnets are translated from Spanish into English, by MIT Professor Stephen Tapscott . I'm enjoying it tremendously.

Pablo Neruda was the pen name of a Chilean poet and leftist politician, Ricardo Eliecer Neftali Reyes Basoalto. Despite the fact that he was politically tone deaf (he actually praised Stalin in some of his poetry), he could turn a powerful phrase in Spanish. In 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

I remember reading some of his work in my early 20's and being impressed by it.

My favorite phrase from Neruda is-

"un oro duro como el vino de una copa colmada

llena la tierra hasta sus limites azules."

Which Tapscott translated into English as-

"Like wine in a glass, a hard gold

fills the earth to its blue limits."

Here's a complete sonnet from the book, sonnet #53, translated into English by Tapscott. In my opinion, it captures the fulfillment and quiet joy a man and a woman can possess in their domestic marriage life-

Here are the bread-the wine-the table-the house:

a man's needs, and a woman's, and a life's.

Peace whirled through and settled in this place:

the common fire burned, to make this light.

Hail to your two hands, which fly and make

their white creations, the singing and the food:

salve! the wholesomeness of your busy feet;

viva! the ballerina who dances with the broom.

The rugged rivers of water and of the threat,

torturous pavilions of the foam,

incendiary hives and reefs: today

they are this respite, your blood in mine,

this path, starry and blue as the night,

this never-ending simple tenderness.

Here's the sonnet in its original Spanish-

Aqui esta el pan, el vino, la mesa, la morada:

el menester del hombre, la mujer y la vida:

a este sitio corria la paz vertiginosa,

por esta luz ardio la común quemadura.

Honor a tus dos manos que vuelan preparando

los blancos resultados del canto y la cocina,

salve! la integridad de tus pies corredores,

viva! la bailarina que baila con la escoba.

Aquellos bruscos rios con aguas y amenazas,

aquel atormentado pabellón de la espuma,

aquellos incendiarios panales y arrecifes

son hoy este reposo de tu sangre en la mia,

este cauce estrellado y azul como la noche,

este simplicidad sin fin de la ternura.

Pablo Neruda

-JP