Questions for Pablo Neruda
in the centennial of his birth
ŇWhen will it be dictated beneath the earth
the designation
of the rose?Ó
Pablo
Neruda, Libro de las Preguntas
Is January a stray piece of live
coal
that inaugurates the cycle of the water?
It is true that the English do not jump?
Are presidents exempt from approaching groups?
Why is that sometimes when the soul cries, poetry laughs?
Why is there no employment when there is work left over?
Is a worker for Ford
worth less than a car?
Why does the bricklayer live in a house
without plaster? Does he have windows just to see the neighbors?
Do the street-sweepers carry the earth from the center
of cities to revive the shores?
Does this woman have a man on her arm
or a wallet?
Who gets excited to swear that Che has died?
Incidentally, dear Pablo, Miguel and Federico?
Do the church bells toll?
Which is worth more, a man or a word?
Or a man of his word?
Does the child break off his laugh with his grub
or is it the grub that breaks out laughing from justice?
Is it that one leaves the homeland
or that the homeland is a virtue on the road to extinction?
Would one know the story if sometime, the world
breathed free of emperors and traitors?
Is the moon the jasmine closest to an embrace?
Will complicit silence also end in prison?
Is it that there are many cats or that the birds are not dying?
Does a remnant constellation become detached
or does a child trace its map of night with a finger?
What will follow if in the hospitals
they allow the administration of love in generous doses?
When will man understand that mothers bring
the drop of juice to the world between her lips?
Do ships return?
Why are Ministers of Economics
more important than Ministers of Culture?
Where do the questions end? So I hush,
or at times are the answers a useless hollow in the mouth?
Why is poetry, Neftal’ Reyes, companion,
among the rubble like an invincible rose?
Copyright 2006 by Gabriel Impaglione. Translated by Ron Hudson and
Maria G. Piccini.
Preguntas a Pablo Neruda
en el centenario de su nacimiento
"Cu‡ndo se dicta bajo tierra
la designaci—n de la rosa?"
Pablo
Neruda, Libro de las Preguntas.
Enero es un pedazo de brasa extraviada
que inaugura el ciclo del agua?
Es verdad que los ingleses no saltan?
Los presidentes estan exentos de subir a los colectivos?
PorquŽ a veces cuando duele el alma se r’e la poes’a?
C—mo no hay empleo si sobra el trabajo?
Un obrero de la ford
vale menos que un auto?
El alba–il que levanta maravillas vive en una casa
sin reboques? Tiene ventana de mirar vecino?
Es que los barrenderos llevan la tierra del centro
de las ciudades para que reviva en las orillas?
Tiene esa mujer un hombre en su brazo
o una cartera?
QuiŽn se anima a jurar que el Che ha muerto?
Y por cierto, querido Pablo, Miguel y Federico?
Doblan las campanas?
Vale m‡s un hombre o la palabra?
O un hombre de palabra?
Se desgaja de risa el ni–o con su guiso
o es el guiso que suelta carcajadas de justicia?
Es que quien se va ten’a patria
o la patria es virtud en v’as de extinci—n?
Sabe la historia si alguna vez, el mundo,
respir— libre de imperios y traidores?
Es la luna el jazm’n m‡s pr—ximo al abrazo?
Acabar‡ en la c‡rcel tambiŽn el silencio c—mplice?
Es que hay muchos gatos o los p‡jaros no mueren?
Se desprendi— un retazo constelado
o un ni–o traz— su mapa de la noche con un dedo?
QuŽ suceder’a si en los hospitales
se dejase de administrar amor en generosas dosis?
Cu‡ndo entender‡ el hombre que la mujer lleva
la gota de zumo del mundo entre sus labios?
Regresa un nav’o?
PorquŽ los ministerios de Econom’a
son m‡s importantes que los ministerios de Cultura?
D—nde se acaban las preguntas? Entonces callo,
o a veces las respuestas son un hueco inśtil en la boca?
PorquŽ la poes’a, Neftal’ Reyes, compa–ero,
entre los escombros como una rosa indomable?
Copyright 2006 by Gabriel Impaglione. Translated
by Ron Hudson.