zodiac4 May 2004

Now just imagine if Catullus had said silly things like that. You'd be translating Catullus's translations of, I don't know, Sumerian or caveman or something right now, instead of translating Catullus's original poems. Of course, I wish sometimes Pound had stuck with translation, but that's another matter.

Hey, here's one from my archives - what do you think? It's Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz:

If one were to consider the risks of the sea
No one would ever embark; if one were to see
The dangers beforehand, he would never dare
Provoke the valiant bull; if one took care
To consider the bolting horse’s fury, no
Wise horseman, however sober was his hand
Would ever face him, to make him slow or stand.

But if you were that one so daring, though
You knew the peril, like old Apollo you
Would want to guide that horse with your tight-gloved
Hand, the speeding chariot washed in a haze
Of azure sunlight, all that you could do, do,
And not consider all of this you’ve loved,
That this is how it should be all your days.