Aconseja a un amigo, que estaba en buena
posesión de nobleza, no trate de calificarse,
porque no le descubran lo que no se sabe

Solar y ejecutoria de tu abuelo
es la ignorada antigüedad sin dolo;
no escudriñes al Tiempo el protocolo,
ni corras al silencio antiguo el velo

Estudia en el osar deste mozuelo,
descaminado escándalo del polo:
para probar que descendió de Apolo,
probó, cayendo, descender del cielo.

No revuelvas los huesos sepultados;
que hallarás más gusanos que blasones,
en testigos de nuevo examinados.

Que de multiplicar informaciones,
puedes temer multiplicar quemados,
y con las mismas pruebas, Faetones.



Advising a friend, secure in his nobility,
not to have his lineage researched,
so no one will find out what is not known


Without fraud your grandfather's unknown past
is your estate, your forebears' pedigree;
don't scrutinize the registry of Time,
or part silence's veil of secrecy.

Just see what happened to that daring youth,
misguided spectacle of days gone by:
to prove that he descended from the Sun
proved, falling, he descended from the sky.

Don't tamper with your kin's long-buried bones;
you'll find more worms than crests residing there
when newly questioned witnesses tell all.

For with each bit of evidence you add,
you may find as the bonfires multiply
a proof akin to Phaëthon's famous fall. 

                     (©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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