Alquimia
Música y texto de
Agustín Fernández
I. Desiderata
|
I. Desiderata
|
Salir
De la prisión
Que asfixia el alma
|
To leave
the prison
that suffocates
the soul
|
Pasar
Entre las rejas
Que enjaulan el vuelo
De los deseos
|
To pass
Between the bars
That cage the
flight
Of one’s desires
|
Soltar
Las ataduras
que ciñen los pies
al centro de la
tierra
|
To unbind
The ties
That bind one’s
feet
To the centre of
the earth
|
Inhalar
Las moléculas
que orbitan más allá
de la duda y del temor
|
To inhale
The molecules
That orbit beyond
Doubt and fear
|
Abrir
El portal del silencio
Que salgan las palabras
Que salgan, que limpien,
que hieran, que salven
|
To open
The gates of
silence
Let words come
out
Let them come
out, let them cleanse, let them hurt, let them save
|
Descubrir
Los secretos
Aunque causen destrucción
|
To uncover
The secrets
Even if they
cause destruction
|
Flotar
En las alturas
donde vuelas tú,
en el reino del norte del
río.
|
To float
In the heights
Where you fly
In the kingdom
north of the river
|
II. Dame (*)
|
II. Give me (**)
|
In
memoriam Rogers Becerra Casanovas
|
|
Dame, dame, con temeridad,
Aunque yo callare,
chocolate
|
Give me, give me,
with temerity
Even if I were
silent, chocolate
|
¿Por qué condena sufrir
aquí
si tú tienes llave para
escapar?
|
On what sentence
should I suffer here
If you hold the
key to escape?
|
Pasa, pasa, pasa tu maná
Desde las alturas para
alimentar
|
Pass, pass, pass
your manna
From the heights
to feed
|
Ni qué pureza más iraní
Nadie, nadie, nadie tema
al álcali, alcaloide
|
What an Iranian
purity
No-one, no-one,
no-one should fear the álkali, alkaloid
|
Dame, dame, hoja de mascar
Si yo acullicare qué
felicidad
|
Give me, give me,
leaf to chew
If I mull, oh
what joy
|
Ni qué potencia conminará
Saque saque, saque,
erradíquela
|
What power Hill
command
Take it out, take
it out, take it out, erradicate it
|
Porque soy pobre nadie me
quiere
Nadie me quiere dar lo que
quiero yo
Ni chocolate en tutuma
Ni hoja que masticar
Ni sueño que conciliar
|
Because I am poor
no-one loves me
No-one wants to
give me what I want
Not chocolate in
a gourd
Not leaf to chew
Not sleep to fall
into
|
Te ama, te ama, mi
necesidad
Yungas o Chapare, tú curas
el mal.
|
My need loves
you, loves you
Whether Yungas or
Chapare, you heal ills.
|
III. Más desiderata
|
III. More desiderata
|
Escalar tus cumbres
Aunque en las alturas
Me embriague el
vértigo
|
To climb your
peaks
Even if in the
heights
Vertigo
intoxicates me
|
Abrirme paso en tu monte
a golpe de machete
aunque me desgarren tus
espinos
|
To break a path
for myself through your forest
By force of
machete
Even if your
thorns rend me
|
Surcar tus aguas
Aunque en lo profundo
naufrague yo
|
To open a groove
in your sea
Even if in its
depths
I were shipwrecked
|
Llegar, por fin,
Acercarme a ti,
Y decirte:
he cruzado mundos
he cobrado víctimas
he retado a los dioses
he parado órbitas y
desviado trayectorias
Y ahora que he llegado
necesito que seas
Mi patria.
© Agustín Fernández 2006
|
To arrive, at
last,
To come close to
you
And to tell you:
I have crossed
worlds
I have claimed
victims
I have defied the
gods
I have halted
orbits
And have
deflected trajectories
And now that I
have arrived
I need you to be
My homeland.
|
A.F.
(**) Give me evokes material from the song Piama, from Moxos in the department of
Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Of rural, indigenous origin, it became popular in the
eastern Bolivian cities in the sixties. The text shown here is by myself, but
conceived in approximate imitation of the indigenous words, at times alluding
also to their meaning. Hence the text’s resistance to translation.
AF
