I feel that there is always something lost in translation, especially when it comes to poetry. I have even found that I can say things better in one language verses another language. So today I would like to share with you a poem by Francisco Icaza along with the English translation in Spanish-American Poetry: A Dual-Language Anthology edited and translated by Seymour Resnick. In this poem there are phrases and words with a deeper meaning than the simple translation. Additionally, word order often cannot be preserved in translation and word order can really add to the meaning.
So as I read poems like the one below which has been translated, I am torn regarding whether to include translations of my Spanish poems when I create my book (for myself and my family - most of which know no Spanish).
La canción del camino
por Francisco Icaza
Aunque voy por tierra extraña
solitario y peregrino,
no voy solo, me acompaña
mi canción en el camino.
Y si la noche está negra,
sus neguras ilumino;
canot, y mi canción alegra
la obscuridad del caminno.
La fatiga no me importa
porque el báculo divino
de la canción, hace corta
la distancia del camino.
¡Ay, triste y desventurado
quien va solo y peregrino,
y no marcha acompañado
por la canción del camino!
The Song of the Road
(translation of above poem by Francisco Icaza)
Although I go through foreign lands
solitary and wandering,
I do no go alone, my song
accompanies me on the road.
And if the night is black,
I illuminate its blackness;
I sing and my song lights up
the darkness of the road.
Fatigue does not matter to me
because the divine staff
of the song makes short
the length of the road.
Alas, sad and unfortunate
is the one who goes alone and wandering,
and does not walk accompanied
by the song of the road!
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