Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Juan Gelman

El juego en que andamos

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
esta salud de saber que estamos muy enfermos,
esta dicha de andar tan infelices.

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
esta inocencia de no ser un inocente,
esta pureza en que ando por impuro.

Si me dieran a elegir, yo elegiría
este amor con que odio,
esta esperanza que come panes desesperados.

Aquí pasa, señores,
que me juego la muerte.
de "El juego en que andamos"

www.sololiteratura.com/gel/gelpoecertezas.htm

The game we're playing

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this health of knowing that we are very ill,
this happiness of being so unhappy.

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this innocence of not being innocent,
this purity in which I go impure.

If they were to give me the choice, I would choose
this love with which I hate,
this hope that eats desperate breads.

Here it happens, gentlemen,
that I risk (gamble) my death.
of "The game that we're playing"

I found the poem that I had been thinking of in class that reminded me of Martí's irony and paradoxicalness.  Though my translation is off, I feel Gelman, born in 1930 in Buenos Aires, still reflects some sense of realism with which he views life, similar to Martí's poetry.

1 comment:

Dr. Cummings said...

Fenomenal, Audrey. I love this poem. Hopefully some of your classmates will have a look at this and take an interest in Gelman. I don´t think that we´re going to have a chance to read him in this course. You´re right, in a lot of ways this is similar to what we read in Darío´s "Fatality"