La voz a ti debida [68] / Pedro Salinas

La voz a ti debida

[68] (Versos 2389 a 2409)

¡Qué cuerpos leves, sutiles,
hay, sin color,
tan vagos como las sombras,
que no se pueden besar
si no es poniendo los labios
en el aire, contra algo
que pasa y que se parece!

¡Y qué sombras tan morenas
hay, tan duras
que su oscuro mármol frío
jamás se nos rendirá
de pasión entre los brazos!

¡Y qué trajín, ir, venir,
con el amor en volandas,
de los cuerpos a las sombras,
de lo imposible a los labios,
sin parar, sin saber nunca
si es alma de carne o sombra
de cuerpo lo que besamos,
si es algo! ¡Temblando
de dar cariño a la nada!

Pedro Salinas - La voz a ti debida (1933)





[68]

What subtile light bodies
there are,
colorless, inconcrete like shadows,
that can't be kissed
except by putting your lips
in the air, against something
passing by and that resembles them!

And what brown shadows,
so hard
that their cold dark marble
will never fall
passionately in our arms!

And what going and coming,
with love flying about,
from bodies to shadows,
from impossibility to lips,
ceaselessly, never knowing
if it is soul, flesh, or shadow
of a body that we kiss,
if anything at all! Terrified
of caressing nothing!

Pedro Salinas

Translated by Willis Barnstone

(Love Poems by Pedro Salinas: My Voice Because of You and Letter Poems to Katherine)





[68]

What light, subtle bodies
there are, without color,
as indistinct as shadows,
which cannot kiss each other
except by placing their lips
in the air, against something
that passes by and looks like them!

And what deep shadows
there are, so hard
that their dark cold marble
will never surrender
with passion in our arms!

And what a busyness, coming, going,
while love is in the air,
of bodies to shadows,
of the impossible to lips,
without stopping, without ever knowing
if it is a soul of flesh or the shadow
of a body we are kissing,
if it is anything! Trembling
to give love to nothingness!

Pedro Salinas

Translated by Ruth Katz Crispin

(Memory in My Hands: The Love Poetry of Pedro Salinas)





[68]

Che corpi lievi, sottili,
vi sono, incolori,
vaghi come le ombre,
che non si possono baciare
se non posando le labbra
nell’aria, contro qualcosa
che passa e si rivela!

E che ombre brune vi sono,
cosí dure
che il loro scuro marmo freddo
non potrà mai abbandonarsi
appassionato fra le nostre braccia!

E che viavai, su e giú,
con l’amore che ondeggia,
dai corpi alle ombre,
dall’impossibile alle labbra,
senza sosta, senza sapere mai
se è anima di carne od ombra
di corpo ciò che baciamo,
se pure è qualcosa! Tremanti
di dare amore al nulla!

Pedro Salinas

Traduzione di Emma Scoles

(da “La voce a te dovuta”, Einaudi, Torino, 1979)

Nude zebra (Nu zébré), Liz, NYC 1998, by Lucien Clergue