My Father used to say that I was a totally different person when I spoke Spanish. I never quite understood it, though I often thought that it might be because I stopped speaking it regularly when I was eight and so a little bit of that innocence came back when I spoke.
Yet today I was going through some of my old writings and I found that there is a distinct difference even in the way that I write between English and Spanish. It has come to me when I have read Neruda, that never have I seen someone write in English as he does. Even when you read it in English it is as though it could not have been written in English. There is a level of emotion that is not born in the language somehow.
By now you may have read some of my earlier posts and had a taste of my poetry in English… so today I am going to share one I wrote originally in Spanish… the translation is bellow it for those of you who do not know Spanish…
I hope that you enjoy…
Ilusión
Cuando al tocarte te fuiste,
Me dejaste con el alegre olor de tu piel en mi mano.
Me quede pensando sin sentido,
Y lamente tu distancia mas que nunca…
Que grandioso es ese dolor del corazón,
Que bello como sufre y anima al mismo tiempo…
Ahora me encuentro perdido en pensamientos de ti…
Recordando cuando con tu voz despertaste,
Cuando con tu mirada aliviaste,
A un adolorido corazón…
Basta ya solo el cantar de tu voz,
Y el danzar de tus ojos…
Y soy invencible y vulnerable…
Todo al mismo tiempo…
Todo por tu magia y la ilusión
Que has sembrado en mi corazón…
Illusion
When with my touch you parted,
You left me with the cheerful smell of your skin on my hand.
I was left thinking without sense,
And regretted your distance more than ever…
How great the sorrow of heart,
How beautifully it suffers and is encouraged at the same time…
Now I find myself lost in thoughts of you…
Recalling when with your voice you awakened,
When with your glance you relieved,
An aching heart …
It takes only the singing of your voice,
And the dancing of your eyes…
And I’m invincible and vulnerable…
All at the same tim …
All because of your magic and the illusion
You have sown in my heart…
I could only read the English and it is beautiful! I imagine that in Spanish, the tongue your mother speaks, the language in which your first words were heard and uttered on this earth, the language most intimate and closest to your heart, that in your mother tongue Spanish it will be even more powerful and deeply captivating.
There is a poem with unknown source, I once read and loved, that almost is a poetical reply to your beautiful Illusion.
Here it is:
————
Hear me child, and know Me for who I am.
I have been with you since you were born, and I will stay with you until you return to Me at the final dusk.
I am the passionate and seductive lover who inspires the poet to dream.
I am the One who calls to you at the end of your journey. After the day is done, My children find their blessed rest in my embrace.
I am the womb from which all things are born.
I am the shadowy, still tomb; all things must come to Me and bare their breasts to die and be reborn to the Whole.
I am the Sorceress that will not be ruled, the Weaver of Time, the Teacher of Mysteries. I snip the threads that bring my children home to me. I slit the throats of the cruel and drink the blood of the heartless.
Swallow your fear and come to me, and you will discover true beauty, strength, and courage.
I am the fury which rips the flesh from injustice.
I am the glowing forge that transforms your inner demons into tools of power. Open yourself to my embrace and overcome.
I am the glinting sword that protects you from harm.
I am the crucible in which all the aspects of yourself merge together in a rainbow of union.
I am the velvet depths of the night sky, the swirling mists of midnight, shrouded in mystery.
I am the chrysalis in which you will face that which terrifies you and from which you will blossom forth, vibrant and renewed. Seek me at the crossroads, and you shall be transformed, for once you look upon my face, there is no return.
I am the fire that kisses the shackles away. I am the cauldron in which all opposites grow to know each other in Truth. I am the web which connects all things.
I am the Healer of all wounds, the Warrior who rights all wrongs in their Time.
I make the weak strong. I make the arrogant humble. I raise up the oppressed and empower the disenfranchised. I am Justice tempered with Mercy.
Most importantly, child, I am you. I am part of you, and I am within you. Seek me within and without, and you will be strong. Know me. Venture into the dark so that you may awaken to Balance, Illumination, and Wholeness. Take my Love with you everywhere and find the Power within to be who you wish.
Poem title: The Divine Mother
- Souce unknown