Poet: Francisco de Quevedo
Translator: Pamela Greenberg
Language: Spanish
Region: Spain
SHARE:
The greater part of death comes over me
A poem by Francisco de Quevedo, translated from Spanish by Pamela Greenberg.
Pamela Greenberg is a poet, writer and translator. Her translation of the biblical psalms, The Complete Psalms: The Book of Prayer Songs in a New Translation was published by Bloomsbury. She lives in Cambridge, MA, where she works as a mental health counselor.
Enseña a morir antes y que la mayor parte de la muerte es la vida, y ésta no se siente, y la menor, que es el último suspiro, es la que da pena
Señor don Juan, pues con la fiebre apenas
se calienta la sangre desmayada,
y por la mucha edad, desabrigada,
tiembla, no pulsa, entre la arteria y venas;
pues que de nieve están las cumbres llenas,
la boca, de los años saqueada,
la vista, enferma, en noche sepultada,
y las potencias, de ejercicio ajenas,
salid a recibir la sepoltura,
acariciad la tumba y monumento:
que morir vivo es última cordura.
La mayor parte de la muerte siento
que se pasa en contentos y locura,
y a la menor se guarda el sentimiento.
He Teaches How to Die Beforehand and That the Greater Part of Death Is Life, and This You Don’t Feel, and the Lesser, Which Is the Last Breath, Is That Which Causes Pain
Señor don Juan, since taken with fever
it barely heats up, your disgruntled blood,
and much of the time, stripped to the core,
it shivers without pulse between artery and veins
Since the clouds have grown full of snow
your mouth, from many years grown shaky
your sight, sickly, buried in perpetual night
and your virility a hopeless game
go gladly accept the weight of your burial
hold tenderness for the tomb and headstone
“I live in order to die” is the ultimate proverb
The greater part of death comes over me
in moments of insanity and contentment
and the lesser when I gain over emotions control.
