Che’s Poetry (2): The Grandfather – Nicolás Guillén
Here’s one poem from Che Guevara’s “Cuaderno Verde”, as mentioned in my previous post. Nicolás Guillén was a Cuban poet, and studied law at the University of Havana before working as a typographer and journalist. He was also a political activist, which perhaps is a reason why Guevara included his poems in his notebook.
My apologies for the copious punctuation – it’s the same in the original, so I can’t really get rid of it. It’s also quite strange and jumpy, but if you’ve read much Spanish poetry you’ll probably be used to that.
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Guillén, 1942 |
The Grandfather
This angelic woman with Northern eyes,
who lives attentive to the rhythm of her European blood,
is unaware that in the depths of that rhythm
a black man beats the hard heads of deep drums.
Under the severe line of her sharp nose,
her mouth traces a short line in a fine stroke,
and no crow dirties the untrodden snow
of her flesh, that shines tremulous and bare.
Oh, my lady! Look at your mysterious veins;
row in the live waters that flow inside of you,
and see passing by lilies, nelumbiums, lotuses and roses;
and, troubled, you will see next to the fresh bank
the sweet dark shadow of the grandfather who fled,
the one who curled forever your yellow hair.
Related:
Che Guevara’s “Cuaderno Verde”
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