Delmira Agustini -Las voces laudatorias-

Las voces laudatorias

Para Andrés

Hermano: a veces dudo si existes o te sueño;
Coronado de espíritus reinas en la Belleza
Teniendo por vasallos la Vida y el Ensueño,
Y por novia la Gloria que el crepúsculo reza:

“Dios salve de sus ojos los dos largos estíos;
“Y mariposa ebria de sol, su cabellera;
“Y su boca, una rosa fresca sobre los ríos
“Del Fuego y la Armonía; y los vasos de cera

“De sus manos colmadas de rosas de cariño;
“Y su cuerpo sin sombra que reviste un armiño
“De castidad sobre una púrpura de pasión;

“Y, ante todo, Dios salve el rincón de su vida
“Do el Espíritu Santo de su espíritu anida:
“Ante todo, Dios salve en mí su corazón!”

El Ensueño se encierra en su boca sedeña,
El Ensueño no habla ni nada: sueña, sueña …

Y la Vida cantando a la sombra de un lloro:
“Su mirada me viste de terciopelo y fuego,
“O me vierte dos copas de tiniebla y de oro
“O abre en rosas mi carne con un cálido riego:

“Su cuerpo hecho de pétalos de placer y de encanto,
“Corola el cáliz negro de la melancolía,
“Y su espíritu vuela de sus labios en canto
“En un pájaro rosa con un ala sombría.


The laudatory voices

To Andrés

Brother: at times I doubt if you exist or I dream you;
Crowned by spirits you reign in beauty
Having as servants life and fantasy,
And for your bride the glory that dusk utters:

“May God rescue from his eyes the two long summers;
“And his hair, a butterfly inebriated by sun;
“And his mouth, a fresh rose upon the rivers
“Of fire and harmony; and the wax vases

“Of his hands, showered with roses of tenderness
“And his shadowless body adorned in ermine
“With chastity over a purple of passion;

“And, above all, may God save the corner of his life
“Where the Holy Ghost of his spirit lives:
“Above all, May God save his heart in me!”

Illusion is sealed in his silky mouth,
Illusion speaks not a word: it dreams and dreams …

And life singing under the shadow of a cry:
“His gaze dresses me with velvet and fire,
“Or spills on me two cups of darkness and gold
“Or it opens my flesh in roses with a warm sprinkle:

“His body made of petals of pleasure and charm,
“Forms the corolla around the dark calyx of melancholy,
“And his spirit soars from his lips singing
“In a rosy bird with a somber wing.

Translated by Alejandro Cáceres