Pablo Neruda’s Arte Poetica

Robins lay one egg a day. They begin to incubate them after the second egg is laid.

Between shadow and space, between trimmings and maidens

Endowed with a singular heart and fateful dreams

Dramatically pale and wrinkled on the forehead

And a furious widow in mourning for each day of my life

Oh for each invisible water that I drink dreamily

And all sound that I receive trembling

I have the same absent thirst and the same cold fever,

An ear that is born, an indirect anguish,

As if thieves or ghosts arrived

And in a shell having a deep and fixed extension,

Like a humbled waiter, like a bell with a slightly menacing sound,

Like an old mirror, like the smell of an empty house 

Into which the guests enter at night hopelessly drunk.

And there is the smell of clothing thrown on the floor and the absence of flowers,

Possibly in another manner or way even less melancholic-,

But, the truth, suddenly, the wind that lashes my chest,

Nights of infinite weight or substance fall in my bedroom,

The noise of a day that burns with sacrifice

Ask the prophetic that exists within me, with melancholy

And a knocking of objects that call out without an answer

There is a movement without pause, a confused name.

Translation by Georgianna Rivard

En Español

Arte Poetica de Pablo Neruda

Entre sombra y espacio, entre guarniciones y doncellas,

Dotado de corazón singular y sueños funestos,

Precipitadamente pálido, marchito en la frente,

Y con luto de viudo furioso por cada día de mi vida,

Ay, para cada agua invisible que bebo soñolientamente

Y de todo sonido que acojo temblando,

Tengo la misma sed ausente y la misma fiebre fría,

Un oído que nace, una angustia indirecta,

Como si llegaran ladrones o fantasmas,

Y en una cascara de extension fija y profundal,

Como un camarero humillado, como una campana un poca ronca,

Como un espejo Viejo como un olor de casa sola

En la que los huespedes entran de noche perdidamente ebrios.

Y hay un olor de ropa tirade al suelo, y una ausencia de flores,

-posiblemente de otro modo aún menos melancólico-,

Pero, la verdad, de pronto, el viento que azota mi pecho,

Las noches de sustancia infinita caídas en mi dormitorio,

El ruido de un día que arde con sacrificio

Me piden lo profético que hay en mí, con melancolía

Y un golpe de objetos que llaman sin ser respondidos

Hay, y un movimiento si tregua, un un nombre confuse.

Dream the impossible dream.

A friend of mine, interested in reading Don Quijote de la Mancha, wondered if anyone wanted to join her in the quest. Being a good friend, I said “Yes!”  In the vein of a true masochist I delved into the pages of this very old book, and reintroduced myself to the genius of Miguel de Cervantes – to his complex use of the Spanish language and natural wit to recreate the dreamy character, Don Quijote de la Mancha.

I remember the story fairly well.  DQ, off on a mission to reconstruct his life as a knight in shining armor, is in reality the opposite from what he conjures in his mind – a middle aged decrepit old man who has gone mad reading too much literature: stories like “El Mio Cid” and “Amadís de Gaula,” depicting heroes of the Spanish Medieval Age.  Don Quijote emulates everything about these characters, and aims to be like them.

In chapter two, Don Quijote, departs from his humble abode to travel under the heat and dryness of the day.  Cervantes satirically wrote: (my own translation)  “The sun ardently beat down forcefully, enough to melt the brains of anyone, if they had them at all.”   In his travels, DQ comes upon a castle, and of course he arrives wondering why he is not received with regal pomp, and circumstance.  In search of a place to rest his head he’s greeted by the keeper using words reminiscent of the piqued sarcasm of Cervantes, and paints a picture of life that is far from luxurious:  “the beds of your honor will always be hard rocks and your hours of sleep, forever wakeful.”  It’s a warning of the worst to come, for the knight-errant who just began his journey, carries only visions of grandeur in his head.

DQ continues his journey in Chapter 3, riding his skinny horse named Rocinante, on the look out for his fairly unkempt princess, Dulcinea. Soon he meets his fat and faithful side kick, his ‘escudero’ Sancho Panza.  Sancho is a faithful companion. Traveling with Quijote throughout the story, Sancho tries to convince his lord of Reality, but the hopeless Don Quijote insists on dreaming the impossible dream.

My friend and I soon concurred that perhaps we wouldn’t read the WHOLE book, in one fell swoop, for we have much else to do, but we’ll honor Cervantes in creating this great masterpiece, and plan to return to the story, in some shape and form, for to abandon Don Quijote is to abandon the truth he sought.  So like Sancho Panza, we will in spirit accompany Don Quijote through his journey, to pursue the impossible dream, for it’s the journey of all of us, and aren’t we all together, in this quest?