Mantis 20 (Spring 2022)
Translations
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
translated from the Spanish by Julio Toro San Martin
Dos soliloquios de La vida es sueño (1629–1635)
(Sale en lo alto de un monte ROSAURA en hábito de hombre, de camino, y en representando los primeros versos va bajando.)
ROSAURA. Hipogrifo violento
que corriste parejas con el viento,
¿dónde, rayo sin llama,
pájaro sin matiz, pez sin escama,
y bruto sin instinto
natural, al confuso laberinto
de esas desnudas peñas
te desbocas, arrastras y despeñas?
Quédate en este monte,
donde tengan los brutos su Faetonte;
que yo, sin más camino
que el que me dan las leyes del destino.
ciega y desesperada,
bajaré la cabeza enmarañada
de este monte eminente,
que arruga al sol el ceño de su frente.
Mal, Polonia, recibes
a un extranjero, pues con sangre escribes
su entrada en tus arenas,
y apenas llega, cuando llega a penas.
Bien mi suerte lo dice;
mas ¿dónde halló piedad un infelice?
Two Soliloquies from Life is a Dream (1629–1635)
(From on high on a mountain ROSAURA enters, dressed in the habit of a travelling man. As she descends she speaks the first verses.)
ROSAURA. (to her absent horse) Hippogriff homicidal,
who ran equal with the wind unbridled,
where, -flash without flame,
bird without plumage, fish without scales,
and bird without natural instincts, –
to the labyrinths addled
of these nude rocks
do you bolt, crash and tumble to?
Stay on this mountain,
to the beasts remain a Phaethon,
as I, without way,
yet with destiny’s promptings,
blind and in despair
go down the tangled hair
of this imminent mountain,
that scowls
broad-browed at the sun.
Badly, Poland, you receive a guest;
with blood you mark
her entrance on your sands,
and hardly is she come, but she comes to bad.
True what my fate says:
was ever mercy found
by one so unhappy?
(Descúbrese SEGISMUNDO con una cadena y a la luz, vestido de pieles.)
SEGISMUNDO. ¡Ay mísero de mí! ¡Y ay infelice!
apurar, cielos, pretendo,
ya que me tratáis así,
qué delito cometí
contra vosotros naciendo;
aunque si nací, ya entiendo
qué delito he cometido:
bastante causa ha tenido
vuestra justicia y rigor;
pues el delito mayor
del hombre es haber nacido.
Sólo quisiera saber,
para apurar mis desvelos
(dejando a una parte, cielos,
el delito del nacer),
¿qué más os pude ofender
para castigarme más?
¿No nacieron los demás?
Pues si los demás nacieron,
¿qué privilegios tuvieron,
que yo no gocé jamás?
Nace el ave, y con las galas
que le dan belleza suma,
apenas es flor de pluma
o ramillete con alas,
cuando las etéreas salas
corta con velocidad,
negándose a la piedad
del nido que deja en calma:
¿y teniendo yo más alma,
tengo menos libertad?
Nace el bruto, y con la piel
que dibujan manchas bellas,
apenas signo es de estrellas
(gracias al docto pincel),
cuando, atrevido y cruel,
la humana necesidad
le enseña a tener crueldad,
monstruo de su laberinto:
¿y yo, con mejor instinto;
tengo menos libertad?
Nace el pez, que no respira,
aborto de ovas y lamas;
y apenas bajel de escamas
sobre las ondas se mira,
cuando a todas partes gira,
midiendo la inmensidad
de tanta capacidad
como le da el centro frio:
¿y yo, con más albedrío.
tengo menos libertad?
Nace el arroyo, culebra
que entre flores se desata,
y apenas, sierpe de plata.
entre las flores se quiebra,
cuando músico celebra
de las flores la piedad,
que le dan la majestad
del campo abierto a su huida:
¿y teniendo yo más vida,
tengo menos libertad?
¡En llegando a esta pasión,
un volcán, un Etna hecho,
quisiera arrancar del pecho
pedazos del corazón!
¿Qué ley, justicia o razón,
negar a los hombres sabe
privilegio tan süave,
excepción tan principal,
que Dios le ha dado a un cristal,
a un pez, a un bruto y a un ave?
(In a prison cell SEGISMUNDO is discovered in light, chained and dressed in animal furs.)
SEGISMUNDO. Ah, miserable and wretched me!
Heavens, I intend
to ask why I’m so wrongly treated;
what crime have I committed
against you by being born?
Though by being born, I realize
what crime I have committed;
great reason has had
your justice and severity,
for a crime of utmost gravity
is the crime of being born.
I would only like to know
the cause of all my sufferings –
leaving aside, heavens,
the crime of being born –
how much more did I offend,
that I, than others, must be punished more?
Weren’t the others also born?
And if they were also born,
why do they have privileges to enjoy
that I have not had the chance to know?
The bird is born, who with its regal plumage
stands with beauty peerless,
and then like a feathered flower,
or winged bouquet,
through the ethereal spaces
it swiftly races,
forgetful of the pity
owed to the tranquil nest
it leaves behind;
and I, having much more soul,
enjoy less liberty?
The brute is born, whose fur
drawn with beauteous marks –
thanks to skillful artistry –
has marks worthy of the stars,
when, daring and cruel,
human necessity
teaches it cruelty;
monster of its own labyrinth;
and I, with better instinct,
enjoy less liberty?
The fish is born, who doesn’t breathe,
abortion of roes and slime,
and hardly this scaly ship
on the waves sees itself,
when it in all directions turns,
measuring the immensity
of such magnitude
within the deepest cold;
and I, with greater will,
enjoy less liberty?
The stream is born, a snake
that amid flowers is unleashed,
and hardly does this silver serpent,
amid the flowers unwind,
when in song it celebrates
the flowers kindness,
when they grant the majesty
of the open country in its flight;
and I, having much more life,
enjoy less liberty?
Having arrived at this passion
a volcano, an Etna grown,
I would like to get off my chest,
pieces of my broken heart!
Oh, what law, justice or reason,
knowingly denies to men
such privileges sweet,
exception so principal,
that God has given to a crystalline stream,
a fish, a brute, or a bird?
PEDRO CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA (1600 – 1681) was a playwright and baroque poet during the latter half of Spain’s Golden Age or Renaissance. A prolifc writer, in his lifetime he wrote 120 theatrical plays, 80 religious mystery plays and various other shorter plays and poems. He is considered one of the world’s greatest dramatists, some of his most famous plays being La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream), El alcalde de Zalamea (Te Mayor of Zalamea), El magico prodigioso (The Wonderful Magician) and El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theatre of the World).
JULIO TORO SAN MARTIN is a Canadian short story writer who has been published both online and in print.