EthicalDative

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: The whole of part 7 follows. Of the poem’s 9 parts this short one has its peculiar thorniness. The elfish spin Whitman places on his queries and hedging averments — “as good as” and “for all” — dares my Spanish. “Who knows… but” reeks of subjunctive mood, but I’ve groped with moot outcomes for Spanish-sounding phraseology that puts the tone across. Whether or not my dependent clauses cut the mustard, ¿quién sabe?]
(7)
Closer yet I approach you,
Cada vez más me acerco a vosotros,
What thought you have of me now, I had as much of you—I laid in my stores in advance,
La consideración que ahora tengáis de mí, tanta tuve yo de vosotros — acumulé mis reservas por adelantado,
I consider’d long and seriously of you before you were born.
Pensé larga y seriamente en vosotros antes de que nacierais.

Who was to know what should come home to me?
¿Quién iba a saber lo que hubiera de domiciliarse en mí?
Who knows but I am enjoying this?
¿Quién sabe que yo no disfrute esto?
Who knows, for all the distance, but I am as good as looking at you now, for all you cannot see me?
¿Quién sabe que, pese al extremo de lejanía, yo no os contemple ahora, dado que no me podéis ver a mí?

(c) 2021 JMN. All rights reserved

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: I’ve arbitrarily divided part 6 into 3 segments. The third of the three segments follows. The poem has 9 parts.]

[6.3]
[I] Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest,
Unido fui con los demás, los días y sucesos de los demás,
Was call’d by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as they saw me approaching or passing,
Llamado de mi nombre familiar fui en voz alta y clara por los chavales cuando me veían acercar o pasar,
Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of their flesh against me as I sat,
Sentí sus brazos en el cuello estando yo de pie, o bien el apoyo casual de sus carnes contra mí cuando me sentaba,
Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet never told them a word,
Vi a multitudes que amaba en la calle o en el buque o en la asamblea pública, y no les dije jamás palabra,
Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping,
Viví la misma vida que los demás, el mismo reír, roer, dormir,
Play’d the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,
Hice el papel que todavía recuerda al actor o a la actriz,
The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,
El viejo papel de siempre, el papel que resulta ser lo que hacemos de él, tan grande como deseamos,
Or as small as we like, or both great and small.
O tan pequeño como deseamos, o bien grande y pequeño a la vez.

[End of part 6]

(c) 2021 JMN. All rights reserved

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: I’ve arbitrarily divided part 6 into 3 segments. The second of the three segments follows. The poem has 9 parts.]

[6.2]
I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
Yo también tejí el viejo nudo de contrariedad,
Blabb’d, blush’d, resented, lied, stole, grudg’d,
Despotriqué, me ruboricé, me resentí, mentí, robé, envidié,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
Tuve artimañas, enfado, lujuria, deseos calientes que no me atreví a decir,
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
Fui caprichoso, vanidoso, avaro, superficial, taimado, cobarde, maligno,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me,
El lobo, la culebra, el puerco, no faltando en mí,
The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,
La mirada infiel, la palabra frívola, el anhelo adúltero, no faltando,
Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting,
Rechazos, odios, aplazamientos, mezquindad, pereza, ninguno de ellos faltando,[…]

(c) 2021 JMN. All rights reserved

Versión castellana del poema “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856) de Walt Whitman
English text at www.poetryfoundation.org
Spanish Interpretation by JMN

[Translator’s note: I’ve arbitrarily divided part 6 into 3 segments. The first of the three segments follows. The poem has 9 parts.]

[6.1]
It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
No es sobre ti sólo que caen las tachas oscuras,
The dark threw its patches down upon me also,
La oscuridad lanzó sobre mí también sus tachas,
The best I had done seem’d to me blank and suspicious,
Lo mejor que yo hubiera logrado me parecía vacío y dudoso,
My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?
Mis supuestas grandes ocurrencias, ¿no eran en realidad ínfimas?
Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,
Tampoco eres tú sólo quien sabe lo que es ser malo,
I am he who knew what it was to be evil,
Soy yo quien supo lo que era ser malo,[…]

(c) 2021 JMN. All rights reserved