Poetry Month: #7 Last Night as I Lay Sleeping by Antonio Machado

This poem by Antonio Machado is a haunting flow of words and imagery.  One of my favorite lines:   

And the golden bees were making white combs 

and sweet honey from my old failures.  

Alison Patton provides a little more background on the poem: "Spanish poet Antonio Machado lost his beloved wife at a young age and went into a state of deep grief. When he finally began to recover from this loss, he wrote this beautiful poem about the re-birth of his soul and his heart."

As I began to study Spanish, I became intrigued by the process of translation and began to realize how almost impossible it is to translate poetry. Robert Bly has the best known English version of this special poem ... but it makes me wince every time I read or hear it.

There is a phrase repeated at the beginning of each stanza:

Anoche cuando dormía
soñé ¡bendita ilusión!,

Bly's translation bothers me when he calls ¡bendita ilusión! a marvelous error:

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—

Chris Cavanagh's translation seems much closer to the poet's words:

Last night while sleeping
I dreamt, – blessed illusion!

However, as the poem goes on, it is Bly's translation that has that special rhythm and meaning:

that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from all my old failures.

While Cavanagh translates it as:

that a beehive
within my heart;
and the golden bees
were making,
from my bitter disappointments,
white wax and sweet honey.

Acequia from Google Images

Another example is the word aqueduct ... a harsh, unpoetic word in English. Machado uses the word acequia, a much softer, lovelier word with a broader meaning, including this image.

I wish I had sufficient Spanish to truly savor Machado's original words. But I will put them below with Bly's translation.

This reading by Roger Housden gives us a taste of the original Spanish. Click here
 

Last Night as I Lay Sleeping by Antonio Machado Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk? Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures. Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart. It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth, and sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes. Last night as I slept, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that it was God I had here inside my heart. Translated by Robert Bly

Anoche cuando dormía soñé ¡bendita ilusión! que una fontana fluía dentro de mi corazón. Dí: ¿por qué acequia escondida, agua, vienes hasta mí, manantial de nueva vida en donde nunca bebí? Anoche cuando dormía soñé ¡bendita ilusión! que una colmena tenía dentro de mi corazón; y las doradas abejas iban fabricando en él, con las amarguras viejas, blanca cera y dulce miel. Anoche cuando dormía soñé ¡bendita ilusión! que un ardiente sol lucía dentro de mi corazón. Era ardiente porque daba calores de rojo hogar, y era sol porque alumbraba y porque hacía llorar. Anoche cuando dormía soñé ¡bendita ilusión! que era Dios lo que tenía  dentro de mi corazón.

el manatial

la colmena

la amagura

la cera

el corazon ardiente

el rojo hogar

y porque hacía llorar.

More info: https://vielmetti.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/anoche-cuando-dormia-three-translations/
http://www.lemonadedivorce.com/last-night-as-i-was-sleeping-machado/