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Mar Ideal por Juan Ramón Jiménez


One of the great love stories is the marriage of Spanish poets, Zenobia Camprubí and Juan Ramón Jiménez. This poem by Jiménez is sublime and fluid while my translation doggy paddles. Focus on the Spanish.


Mar Ideal

Los dos vamos nadando
-agua de flores o de hierro-
por nuestras dobles vidas.

-Yo, por la mía y por la tuya;
tú, por la tuya y por la mía-.

De pronto, tú te ahogas en tu ola,
yo en la mía; y, sumisas,
tu ola, sensitiva, me levanta,
te levanta la mía, pensativa.


Ideal Sea

We both go swimming
—water of flowers or iron—
through our double lives

—I through mine and yours
You through yours and mine—

You drown in your wave suddenly
and I in mine. Submissively
your sensitive wave lifts me
as mine lifts you pensively

 

Swimmers by Paul Divone


One Comment

  1. In terms of delicate musicality and poignancy, it rivals and calls to mind some of Paul Verlaine’s poems.

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