As promised, here is my translation for "Las Alquerjas Perdidas." I'm not entirely happy with it...but then, I'm never entirely happy with anything. I strayed a little further afield on this one; Smith used a lot of obscure Spanish words that I had difficulty finding in any dictionary, so I was shooting in the dark much of the time. Many thanks to Ramón Cabrales; his translation on this website provided a much needed guide. Herewith:

Lost Granges

I love the orchard-scattered fields,
Neglected ground where woods trespass
And steadfast flowers, seduced by grass,
Upraise and part their lips to yield
Their scents and honeys long concealed.

For me, the barren apple-rows--
The dying trees with lichens rimmed--
The grapevine twined on fruit tree limbs--
The pear trees furred with mistletoe
Like clumps of reeds on winter snow.

Within the grove's still heart I found
A firepit's old stones tumbled round,
And a rosebush, wild, alone and lost,
That over all the landscape tossed
Its hummingbirds like leaves unbound.

Beside a bulrush-bordered lea
There leans an old and crooked shed
With crusted walls of faded red--
A house where mice and mushrooms vie
Below a cobweb factory.

Upon an isle by brambles ringed--
A pathless meadow hemmed with thorns--
An ancient quince tree stands forlorn
Whose winter fruits, in offering,
It drops beside a dying spring.

At twilight I have seen the mound
Of roofless earth beneath the plum
Gather white blossoms one by one,
Like pale ghosts rising from the ground
To murmur chants without a sound.

And when the bats at evening fly,
I catch the scent of petals blown,
The scent of all their past lives flown
From mystic branches tangled high
Against the deep and darkening sky.

Translation by: Stan North

And I think that's going to do it for me. This translation business...too much like work. Enjoy.

Thanks for this; I really enjoyed your work.

I understand what you mean when you say translation is too much like work, but then I'm a point.

Nitpickery: bullrush has 2 'l's.

*Author of Strange Gardens [www.lulu.com]


*Editor of Calenture: a Journal of Studies in Speculative Verse [calenture.fcpages.com]

*Visit my homepage: [voleboy.freewebpages.org]

voleboy wrote:

"Nitpickery: bullrush has 2 'l's."

Not in my dictionary it doesn't. (Actually, it can be spelled either way, but one 'l' is preferred.) Thanks for enjoying me.

Stan wrote:

> As promised, here is my translation for "Las
> Alquerjas Perdidas." I'm not entirely happy with
> it...but then, I'm never entirely happy with
> anything.

I couldn't have done it anywhere near as well as you, but I think I can suggest how to make your rhymes better:

For me, the barren apple-row--
The dying trees that lichen rims--
The grapevine twined on fruit-tree limbs--
The pear trees furred with mistletoe
Like clumps of reeds on winter snow.

Upon an isle that brambles ring--
A pathless meadow hemmed with thorn--
An ancient quince tree stands forlorn
Whose winter fruits, in offering,
It drops beside a dying spring.