Tuesday, August 20, 2013

When Moon Lies In Ambush (tr.from Manuel Martínez)



Moon lies in ambush
silhouetting palms
like herons deep in sleep,
like marble statuettes.

All one hears is
wind racing through marsh.

The slow hours pass by
& I
on guard
in the shadows
that no one may cross the frontier.

[E. A. Costa August 2013, translated from  Manuel Martínez, "Cuando la luna se oculta", Tiempos, lugares, sueños, 1986]
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N.B.: This is not a literal translation in the main, but an attempt to bring out one cryptotype
of many, in a poem that ranges from an echo of the ancient Greek Sappho to a famous
poem of Vicente Huidobro.

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