De un caminante enfermo que se enamoró
donde fue hospedado

Descaminado, enfermo, peregrino,
en tenebrosa noche, con pie incierto
la confusión pisando del desierto,
voces en vano dio, pasos sin tino.

Repetido latir, si no vecino,
distinto, oyó de can siempre despierto,
y en pastoral albergue mal cubierto,
piedad halló, si no halló camino.

Salió el Sol, y entre armiños escondida,
soñolienta beldad con dulce saña
salteó al no bien sano pasajero.

Pagará el hospedaje con la vida;
más le valiera errar en la montaña
que morir de la suerte que yo muero.



Concerning an ailing wayfarer
who fell in love where he was lodged

Misguided, suffering, itinerant
in gloomy night, with indecisive foot
the labyrinth traversing of the wilds,
he called in vain, his steps at random took.

Repeated barking, if not close at hand,
at least distinct, he heard of wakeful dog,
and in a shepherd's cottage, poorly thatched,
compassion found, if not the way he sought.

The sun rose, and beneath her ermine cloak,
a sleepy beauty with sweet savagery
ambushed the traveler so beset with ills.

His lodging he will pay for with his life;
he'd have been better off roaming the hills
than dying in the manner that I die. 

                     (©Alix Ingber, 1995)



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E-mail your comments and questions to:

Alix Ingber
Professor of Spanish
Sweet Briar College

ingber@sbc.edu



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