Nicanor Parra -El hombre imaginario-

El hombre imaginario

El hombre imaginario
vive en una mansión imaginaria
rodeada de árboles imaginarios
a la orilla de un río imaginario

De los muros que son imaginarios
penden antiguos cuadros imaginarios
irreparables grietas imaginarias
que representan hechos imaginarios
ocurridos en mundos imaginarios
en lugares y tiempos imaginarios

Todas las tardes tardes imaginarias
sube las escaleras imaginarias
y se asoma al balcón imaginario
a mirar el paisaje imaginario
que consiste en un valle imaginario
circundado de cerros imaginarios

Sombras imaginarias
vienen por el camino imaginario
entonando canciones imaginarias
a la muerte del sol imaginario

Y en las noches de luna imaginaria
sueña con la mujer imaginaria
que le brindó su amor imaginario
vuelve a sentir ese mismo dolor
ese mismo placer imaginario
y vuelve a palpitar
el corazón del hombre imaginario


The man he imagined

The man he imagined
lives in a mansion he imagined
in the middle of trees he imagined
on the banks of a river he imagined

on the walls he imagined
hang old paintings he imagined
unmendable cracks he imagined
pictures of worlds he imagined
in times and places he imagined

every afternoon-afternoons he imagined
he climbs the stairs he imagined
and goes out to the balcony he imagined
to look at the landscape he imagined
the valley he imagined
surrounded by hills he imagined
ghosts he imagined
come down the road he imagined

singing songs he imagined
to the setting sun he imagined
and on the nights when there's a moon he imagined
he dreams about the woman he imagined

who gave him the love he imagined
he feels the old pain
the same pleasure he imagined
and his heart begins beating again
the heart of the man he imagined

Translated by Edith Grossman