Alfonsina Storni, Alma desnuda (Naked Soul)




  Alma desnuda (Naked Soul)

author: Alfonsina Storni
born on Mai 29, 1892 in Sala Capriasca (Tessin, Switzerland)
died on Oktober 25, 1938 in Buenos Aires (suicide)


Alma desnuda

Nackte Seele

Soy un alma desnuda en estos versos,
Alma desnuda que angustiada y sola
Va dejando sus pétalos dispersos.
...........................
I am a naked soul in these verses,
A naked soul, anxious and lonely
dropping its scattered blossoms
...........................

Alma que puede ser una amapola,
Que puede ser un lirio, una violeta,
Un peñasco, una selva y una ola.
...........................
A soul that resembles a poppy,
That can be a lilly, violet
A rock, a jungle and a wave.
...........................

Alma que como el viento vaga inquieta
Y ruge cuando está sobre los mares,
Y duerme dulcemente en una grieta.
...........................
A soul that like the wind wanders restlessly
And shouts it she is over the seas,
And sleeps sweetly in a chasm
...........................

Alma que adora sobre sus altares,
Dioses que no se bajan a cegarla;
Alma que no conoce valladares.
...........................
A soul that adores on its altars
Gods who will not climb down to blind it
A soul that knows no wall.
...........................

Alma que fuera fácil dominarla
Con sólo un corazón que se partiera
Para en su sangre cálida regarla.
...........................
A sould that easily could rule
Just one heart, if it was willing to split in two
That the blood would sprinkle upon them.
...........................

Alma que cuando está en la primavera
Dice al invierno que demora: vuelve,
Caiga tu nieve sobre la pradera.
...........................
A soul that in spring
Asks the winter to stay: Come back,
May your snow lay upon my meadows.
...........................

Alma que cuando nieva se disuelve
En tristezas, clamando por las rosas
con que la primavera nos envuelve.
...........................
A soul that dissolves when it is snowing
Crying with grief for roses
With which the spring is infolding us.
...........................

Alma que a ratos suelta mariposas
A campo abierto, sin fijar distancia,
Y les dice: libad sobre las cosas.
...........................
A soul, from which sometimes butterflies spring
Out into the fields, regardless the distances,
And to which it says: Sip the things.
...........................

Alma que nada sabe y todo niega
Y negando lo bueno el bien propicia
Porque es negando como más se entrega.
...........................
A soul that knows nothing and that denies everything
And, denying the good advances the good
Because its devotion is biggest in denial.
...........................

Alma que suele haber como delicia
Palpar las almas, despreciar la huella,
Y sentir en la mano una caricia.
...........................
A soul that usually enjoys
Stroking souls, contemning the traces,
And to feel a tender touch in the hand.
...........................

Alma que siempre disconforme de ella,
Como los vientos vaga, corre y gira;
Alma que sangra y sin cesar delira
Por ser el buque en marcha de la estrella.
A soul that is discordant with itself,
Like the winds wandering, running and turning;
A soul that bleeds and is ceaselessly delirious
Because it is the boat on the way to the stars.

vocabulary 
desnuda = naked
angustiado = scared, anxious
la amapola = poppy
el pétalo = blossom (leave of a blossom)
disperso = scattered
el lirio = lilly
la violeta = violet
el peñasco = rock
la selva = jungle
la ola = wave
el viento = wind
la grieta = chasm
adorar = to adore
bajarse = to climb down
cegar = to blind
el valladar = wall
partir = to split
la sangre = blood
regar = to sprinkle
cálido = hot
la primavera = spring
demorar = to stay
la pradera = meadow
nevar = to snow
disolverse = to dissolve
la tristeza = sadness, grief
libar = to sip
negar = to deny
propiciar = to advance, to promote
entregarse = to devote
disconforme = discordant
despreciar = to contemn
la huella = trace
la caricia = caress
vagar = to be lost, to wander around
correr = to run
el buque = boat
la estrella = star






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