Ants

Hormigas

Ramón López Velarde (1888-1921)

This poet also wrote the National Poem of Mexico.
Hormigas
A la cálida vida que transcurre canora con garbo de mujer sin letras ni antifaces, a la invicta belleza que salva y que enamora, responde, en la embriaguez de la encantada hora, un encono de hormigas en mis venas voraces. Fustigan el desmán del perenne hormigueo el pozo del silencio y el enjambre del ruido, la harina rebanada como doble trofeo en los fértiles bustos, el Infierno en que creo, el estertor final y el preludio del nido. Mas luego mis hormigas me negarán su abrazo y han de huir de mis pobres y trabajados dedos cual se olvida en la arena un gélido bagazo; y tu boca, que es cifra de eróticos denuedos, tu boca, que es mi rúbrica, mi manjar y mi adorno, tu boca, en que la lengua vibra asomada al mundo como réproba llama saliéndose de un horno, en una turbia fecha de cierzo gemebundo en que ronde la luna porque robarte quiera, ha de oler a sudario ya hierba machacada, a droga ya responso, a pabilo y a cera. Antes de que deserten mis hormigas, Amada, déjalas caminar camino de tu boca a que apuren los viáticos del sanguinario fruto que desde sarracenos oasis me provoca. Antes de que mis labios mueran, para mi luto, dámelos en el crítico umbral del cementerio como perfume y pan y tósigo y cauterio.
Ants
To life’s melodious warmth that goes with excellence Of woman without artifice, without pretence, Unconquered pulchritude, saviour and lover In the enchanted hour of careless rapture, Rancour of ants is the response in my voracious veins. The pestilential itching, the relentless formication, Smarts to the silent well, the swarm of noise, the castigation, Maize-flour, a dual trophy split between prolific breasts, And the Hell that I believe in, the unlimited damnation, The rattle of the final breath, the prelude of the nests. But then my ants will cancel their embrace, Flee my poor work-worn fingers, as one who Abandons on the sand a cold bagasse. Your mouth denotes erotic derring-do: Your mouth, my rubric, food, and ornament - With vibrant tongue, like a rogue flame that’s hurled Out of a kiln, flaunting to all the world In the rough season of the gale’s lament, Where the moon eyes you up to turn a trick - Shall smell of crushed-up greens and cerement, Responsory and incense, wax and wick. Before my ants abandon me, Amada, have them brave Your lips and travel, travelling to cleanse The journey-money, fruit of bloody stains That aggravate me, from oases of the Saracens. Before my lips shall perish, for my sackcloth you shall give Them at the cemetery’s gate, the crisis-gate, to me, For my bread and my perfume, poison and cautery.  

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Ramón López Velarde...

I live in “Perhaps”

Ich lebe im "Vielleicht"

Emmy Ball-Hennings (1888-1948)

Ich lebe im "Vielleicht"
Ich lebe im „Vielleicht“, Bin eine stumme Frage Und alles ist mir Sage, Soweit Gedanke reicht. O komm, geliebtes Schweigen, Und hüll mich zärtlich ein. Wird alles anders sein, Will ich mich tiefer neigen.
I live in “Perhaps”
I live in “Perhaps”, I’m just a mute query: All things are a story Till Thought overlaps. Come, lovable Silence, With tender embrace: Transform! I’ll abase To deeper obeisance.

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Emmy Ball-Hennings...

Faiths and Creeds, what good to me?

Ach, was soll mir all Bekennen

Emmy Ball-Hennings (1888-1948)

Ach, was soll mir all Bekennen
Ach, was soll mir all Bekennen, Schönes Schweigen, hüll mich ein. Trunken in mir selber brennen, Will ich Rausch und Säule sein. Wort und Namen – wozu nennen? Nicht mehr hören, nicht mehr sehn, Wenn des Lebens bunte Chöre Klingend mir vorüberwehn. Nur die Siegel mögen brennen Tief in meiner Seele Grund. Daß ich Katakombe wäre, Flamme, Gold und Gottesmund . . .
Faiths and Creeds, what good to me?
Faiths and creeds, what good to me? Lovely Silence, swaddle me. Scorched within me, drunkenly, A pillar wild with wine I’ll be. Wherefore utter name or word? Nothing more I’ll hear and see, When life’s joyous choirs are heard Wafting music over me. Let the seals with wax be seared In my soul’s profundity. Flame and gold I would become, Mouth of God, and catacomb.

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Emmy Ball-Hennings...

for Hugo Ball

für Hugo Ball

Emmy Ball-Hennings (1888-1948)

für Hugo Ball
Oktaven taumeln Echo nach durch graue Jahre. Hochaufgetürmte Tage stürzen ein. Dein will ich sein - Im Grabe wachsen meine gelben Haare Und in Holunderbäumen leben fremde Völker Ein blasser Vorhang raunt von einem Mord Zwei Augen irren ruhelos durchs Zimmer Gepenster gehen um beim Küchenbord. Und kleine Tannen sind verstorbene Kinder Uralte Eichen sind die Seelen müder Greise Die flüstern die Geschichte des verfehlten Lebens. Der Klintekongensee singt eine alte Weise. Ich war nicht vor dem bösen Blick gefeit Da krochen Neger aus der Wasserkanne, Das bunte Bild im Märchenbuch, die rote Hanne Hat einst verzaubert mich für alle Ewigkeit.
for Hugo Ball
Octaves go whirling echoes through grey years. Days tumble down heaped up in lofty towers. Let me be yours. Still growing in the grave my yellow hairs And foreign tribes lnhabit elder-trees Pale curtain whispers murder is the word Two eyes roam restlessly across the room And spectres circle at the kitchen-board. Small fir-trees too are children who have died And ancient oaks are souls of weary crones Who mutter histories of lives that failed. Lake Klintekongen sings an age-old tune. The evil eye I never was immune The water-cans were full of Africans Storybook picture bright Red Hannah she Bewitched me once for all eternity.
Portrait by Lon Parker

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

More poems by Emmy Ball-Hennings...