Salvador Espriu

katalonščina

Louis J. Rodrigues

angleščina

Ish, Isha, Eli, Elis

Hem pujat el nostre crit a tu
i ens posàvem de puntetes per semblar més alts.
Ens hem vist en la nostra nuesa,
ens hem mirat en la nostra solitud
i hem engendrat després fills i filles,
al llarg de tot el tedi del nostre temps.
Ah, si raonem, quina rialla trista,
en negar-te en la niciesa dels nostres cors!
Ai, si t’estimem, quantes llàgrimes
fa vessar de seguida el nostre amor cruel!
I també hi ha la sang, la fatiga mil·lenària,
immensa, de la sang. Des de la sorra
d’aquest desert, des de l’amarga
profunditat del pou, et clamo
contra l’olor, contra el color, contra el voltor.
Sí, clamem contra la sang, nosaltres,
que hem vist els arbres i sabem prou bé
com el teu nom pot ser burla o silenci.

© Sebastià Bonet Espriu
Iz: El caminant i el mur
Avdio produkcija: Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya

Ish, Isha, Eli, Elis

We've lifted up our cry to you
and stood on tiptoe to appear taller.
We've seen ourselves in our nakedness,
watched ourselves in our loneliness,
and later begotten sons and daughters
through all the tedium of our time.
If we stopped to think, what a sorry laugh,
to deny you out of our hearts' foolishness!
Oh, if we love you, how many tears
are shed at once by our cruel love!
And there's the blood too, the immense
millennial weariness of blood. From the sands
of this desert, from the bitter
depths of the well, I cry out to you
against the smell, the colour, the vulture.
Yes, we cry out against the blood, we
that have seen the trees and who know too well
how your name can be a taunt or silence.

Translated by Louis J. Rodrigues. Salvador Espriu - Selected Poems: Carcanet 1997.