CUANDO ME PARO ...WHEN I PAUSE ...
Garcilaso de la Vegatrans. Alix Ingber
Cuando me paro a contemplar mi estado,
y a ver los pasos por do me ha traído,
hallo, según por do anduve perdido,
que a mayor mal pudiera haber llegado;

mas cuando del camino estó olvidado,
a tanto mal no sé por dó he venido;
sé que me acabo, y más he yo sentido
ver acabar conmigo mi cuidado.

Yo acabaré, que me entregué sin arte
a quien sabrá perderme y acabarme
si ella quisiere, y aun sabrá querello;

que pues mi voluntad puede matarme,
la suya, que no es tanto de mi parte,
pudiendo, ¿qué hará sino hacello?
 When I pause to contemplate my circumstance,
and look back on the road I have traversed,
I find, to judge by where I have been lost,
that I might well have ended up far worse;

but then if I forget about the road,
I don't know how I've reached such misery;
I know I die, and all the more regret
the knowledge that my love will die with me.

And die I shall, for yielding artlessly
to one who easily could end my life
if that's what she desires, which may prove true;

for since my will can bring about my death,
her will, which is not so much on my side,
since it can, what else would it likely do?
Click here 2 for another translation of this poem.
Transl. Copyright © Alix Ingber, 1995 







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