Poetry by León Felipe: Dialogue Between the Poet and Death (Diálogo entre el poeta y la muerte)

Thanatos – daemon personification of death in
Greek Mythology. Sculptured marble column
drum from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos.

Here’s another León Felipe poem from his collection Ganarás La Luz. Look out for notes of John Donne’s “Death be not proud”.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE POET AND DEATH

Poet- Oh, death! I know you’re already there. Please have some patience.

Death- It’s three o’clock. Shall we leave when the stars fade, the roosters crow, the first light sounds its trumpet from the mountain range and the sun opens a crimson crack between heaven and earth?

Poet- Not when you say so, nor when I want to.

I’ve come to write my testimony. When I have written my last blasphemy my pen will fall, my inkwell will break without being touched, causing ink will pour and, without you pushing it,

The door will open wide.

Then we will leave. Meanwhile…

hang your scythe with my walking stick on the coat rack

in the aisle and sit down… sit down and wait!

Comments

José Luis Ruiz Miguel
February 25, 2013 at 10:03 am

Hola, Lucy. Estaba buscando poemas de León Felipe en inglés y he dado con tu blog, que me ha encantado. ¿Sabes si existen traducciones de sus obras al inglés? Me interesa especialmente el poema "Ser en la vida romero". Gracias por tu respuesta.

tolstoytherapy
March 2, 2013 at 9:46 am

Hola, José. Siente no haberte respondido antes. No he encontrado traducciones de sus obras en inglés antes, desgraciadamente. Por eso yo decidí traducir algunos de sus poemas.

Yo puedo tratar de traducir "Ser en la vida romera" si quieres.

Saludos 🙂