Frontera NorteSur April 2000

VOCES Y RETRATOS DE LA NEW MEXICO
VOICES AND PORTRAITS FROM NEW MEXICO

by Gilberto Prado

I. Trascendencia de los indios pueblos

Contra el sentido absurdo de la guerra
Orquestado por manos invisibles
Los indios pueblos cantan. Nadie cierra
La abertura del humus. Impasibles
Los cuerpos van camino de la tierra
Asomados al mundo en los sensibles
Pasadizos incógnitos del día:
La vida es su blasón, su melodía.

II
Tras la muerte mejor tomar asiento
Que empezar a vivir sin despedirse.
Sin tener que beber, sin alimento,
Qué inútil es la gana de morirse.
Largo adiós al dolor, desprendimiento
Del árbol de la vida. Desceñirse
Del antiguo ropaje de la sombra:
El sol es un misterio que los nombra.

I. The Transcendence of the Pueblo Indians

Against the absurd background of war
orchestrated by invisible hands
Pueblo Indians sing. Nobody seals
the humus opening. Impassive.
The bodies walk the earthen path.
Looking at the world from the discerning
disguised passageways of each day.
Life is their armor, their melody.

II

Beyond death it is best to take a seat
and begin to live without goodbyes.
Without thirst, without food,
how useless to desire death.
A long farewell to pain, separation
from the tree of life. Stripped
of the shadow's ancient dress.
The sun is a mystery that names them.

II. La otra voz del desierto

Ignorado destino el de las nuestras:
Sombras que no se ven,
Impermanentes,
Caminan junto al hombre que describe
Las armas y caballos
No sus hijos.
Innombradas, insólitas, construyen
La historia desde abajo,
Desde la soledad, contra la muerte
Que asedia a los soldados.

II. The other voice of the desert

The destiny of our people is ignored
shadows go unseen,
transient,
They walk towards the man that discusses
weapons and horses
not his children.
Unnamed, unusual, they construct
their history from below
from solitude, against death
that besieges the soldiers.

Fue tan extremada la hambre que allí se pasó que muchas veces estuve tres días sin comer ninguna cosa, y ellos también lo estaban, y parescíame ser cosa imposible durar la vida, aunque en otras mayores hambres y necesidades me vi después, como adelante diré. Naufragios, capítulo XVI

¿Cuánto más andaré por estas tierras?
¿Cuándo podrá borrarse la memoria
De mi barca sin remos ni sextante?
¿Cuántos pasos daré, cuánta distancia
Recorrerá mi voz antes de irme?
No lo puedo saber, pero es loable
El milagro de andar, la epifanía
De poder traducir el Nuevo Mundo
Desde mi propia historia, desde España.
Es asombroso estar apenas vivo,
Apenas navegante:
Tránsfuga de la isla del Mal Hado,
El dolor en mi errancia se repite.

III. The Questions of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

My hunger was so extreme that I had gone three days without eathing a thing. The others were also hungry, and it seemed that continuing was impossible, but, because of seeing their hunger, and their needs, I was able to proceed. Shipwrecks, Chapter 16

How much further will I have to travel across this land?
When will the memory of my boat
without oars or sextant,
disappear?
How many steps will I take, how much longer
can my voice endure?
I don't know, but it is noteworthy,
the miracle of walking, the epiphany
The power to travel to the New World
from my home, from Spain.
It is bewildering to be barely alive
barely navigating
a fugitive on the island of misfortune,
the pain of my wandering recurs.

III. Fray Marcos de Niza

Astonishment hung from your hands
when you discovered an alternate course:
You were first among Franciscans
to obtain miracles from the rubble.

In pursuit of the seven nameless cities
You journeyed with an adventurous passion,
Seeking the Zuni towns above all
Determined to fight one on one

For the riches of Cíbola:
You traded junk for treasure
greater than the empire. The keenness

Of your imagination lost its dignity
and your celestial indulgence our poverty:
You carved shame from the smooth pebbles.

Translation: Anne Marie Mackler with Lupita Minjares and Hector Carbajal

Gilberto Prado was born in Torreón, Coahuila México and is the author of several books of essays and poetry. He has won numerous awards including the Pellicer Frost for the collection Voces y retratos de la New Mexico, excerpted here. He is currently in graduate school studying Latin American Literature at New Mexico State University.