Versión castellana del poema “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856) de Walt Whitman
English text at http://www.poetryfoundation.org
Spanish Interpretation by JMN
[Translator’s note: This is the second segment of the ninth and last part of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Two segments remain.]
(9)
Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name!
¡Resonad, voces de jóvenes! ¡Alta y musicalmente llamadme por mi nombre más cercano!
Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress!
¡Vive, vida vieja! ¡Haz el papel que mira en retrospectiva al actor o a la actriz!
Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one makes it!
¡Haz el papel, el papel que es grande o pequeño según como uno lo interprete!
Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be looking upon you;
Considera, tú que me ojeas, si yo de forma inaudita pudiera estar contemplándote a ti;
Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet haste with the hasting current;
Sé firme, barra sobre el río, para soportar a los que que se apoyan ociosamente, aún cuando se apresuran con la corriente presurosa;
Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air;
¡Seguid volando, aves marinas! Volad lateralmente, o haced amplios círculos en el aire a gran altura;
Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you!
¡Recibe tú el cielo de verano, agua, y consérvalo fielmente hasta que todo ojo dirigido hacia abajo tenga tiempo de quitártelo!
Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any one’s head, in the sunlit water!
¡Divergid, finos radios de luz, de la figura de mi cabeza, o la cabeza de cualquiera, en el agua soleada!
Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sail’d schooners, sloops, lighters!
¡Adelante, buques de la bahía inferior! ¡Pasad arriba o abajo, goletas de vela blanca, balandras, gabarras!
Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lower’d at sunset!
¡Ostentaos, banderas de todas las naciones! ¡Sed bajadas debidamente al ponerse el sol!
Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses!
¡Flamead con llamas altísimas, chimeneas fundidoras! ¡Arrojad negras sombras al anochecer! ¡Despedid rayos rojos y amarillos por encima de las casas!
(c) 2021 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
EthicalDative 
Write Infrequently, If Possible?
The stricture on poeticizing comes from a man who wrote prolifically up until dying at age 93. The prescription must mean other and beyond what it purports to say, as poetry will do. And the spirit of either persuasion will choose whom it does, often as not. Surviving such illumination is part of the trick of reading poetry, my evil one tells me.
(c) 2021 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved