EARTH ~

Nicanor Parra

PIANO SOLO


Since man's life is nothing but a bit of action at a distance,
A bit of foam shining inside a glass;
Since trees are nothing but moving trees:
Nothing but chairs and tables in perpetual motion;
Since we ourselves are nothing but beings
(As the godhead itself is nothing but God);
Now that we do not speak solely to be heard
But so that others may speak
And the echo precede the voice that produces it;
Since we do not even have the consolation of a chaos
In the garden that yawns and fills with air,
A puzzle that we must solve before our death
So that we may nonchalantly resuscitate later on
When we have led woman to excess;
Since there is also a heaven in hell,
Permit me to propose a few things:


I wish to make a noise with my feet
I want my soul to find its proper body.



SOLO DE PIANO


Ya que la vida del hombre no es sino una acción a distancia,
Un poco de espuma que brilla en el interior de un vaso;
Ya que los árboles no son sino muebles que se agitan:
No son sino sillas y mesas en movimiento perpetuo;
Ya que nosotros mismos no somos más que seres
(Como el dios mismo no es otra cosa que dios)
Ya que no hablamos para ser escuchados
Sino para que los demás hablen
Y el eco es anterior a las voces que lo producen;
Ya que ni siquiera tenemos el consuelo de un caos
En el jardín que bosteza y que se llena de airs,
Un rompecabexas que es preciso resolver antes de morir
Para poder resucitar después tran quilamente
Cuando se ha usado en exceso de la mujer;
Ya que también existe un cielo en el infierno,
Dejad que yo también haga algunas cosas:


Yo quiero hacer un ruido con los pies
Y quiero que mi alma encunentre su cuerpo.

translated by William Carlos Williams

My father spoke Spanish quite as easily as he spoke English. . .Spanish was the language spolken in the household. . .So that as children my brother and I heard Spanish constantly spoken about us. A steady flow of West Indians, South Americans, and other speakers of the Spanish language came to visit us.

from ~ Yes, Mrs. Williams, (1959)




compiled & edited by Jonathan Cohen
(New Directions, 2011)





Nicanor Parra is the great Chilean poet and mathematician magnificently still with us at age 97 (birthday was September 5, 1914). Many will say there is no greater poet alive in the Spanish language. And even greater still, Parra is the brother to the legendary folk singer Violeta Parra.