Hot Off the Drafting Table ...
I took a rare excursion into translating Spanish and I kind of like what happened.
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This Machado poem has been translated into English many times, leaving me free to try a few variations on the more faithful version I might have done otherwise.
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I think it's a gorgeous poem, and I hope the English version serves it well.
Summer Night
It’s a lovely summer night.
In the tall houses
the balconies are open
to the old village with its spacious plaza.
In the broad deserted rectangle
stone benches, symmetrical
creepers and acacias engrave
their black shadows on the white sand.
Overhead, the moon, and in the tower,
the illuminated face of the clock.
And I, passing alone through
this old village, like a ghost.
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Noche de verano
Es una hermosa noche de verano.
Tienen las altas casas
abiertos los balcones
del viejo pueblo a la anchurosa plaza.
En el amplio rectángulo desierto,
bancos de piedra, evónimos y acacias
simétricos dibujan
sus negras sombras en la arena blanca.
En el cénit, la luna, y en la torre,
la esfera del reloj iluminada.
Yo en este viejo pueblo paseando
solo, como un fantasma.
Antonio Machado