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Cantos de adolescencia Songs of Youth

(1932-1937)
by Amrico Paredes

Translated with an Introduction and Annotations by B.V. Olgun & Omar Vsquez Barbosa

Arte Pblico Press Houston, Texas

This volume is made possible through grants from the Brown Foundation, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, the Exemplar Program, a program of Americans for the Arts in collaboration with the LarsonAllen Public Services Group, funded by the Ford Foundation, and the M.D. Anderson Foundation. Recovering the past, creating the future Arte Pblico Press University of Houston 452 Cullen Performance Hall Houston, Texas 77204-2004 Cover design by ExacType All photos courtesy of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. Paredes, Amrico Cantos de adolescencia = Songs of Youth: 1932-1937 / by Amrico Paredes; translated with introduction and annotation by B.V. Olgun & Omar Vsquez Barbosa. p. cm. (Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project publication) ISBN: 978-155885-495-6 (alk. paper) 1. Paredes, AmricoTranslations into English. I. Olgun, B.V., 1965- II. Vsquez Barbosa, Omar. III. Title. IV. Title: Songs of Youth. PQ7297.A1A2 2007 860dc22 2007060687 CIP The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. 2007 Amrico Paredes Songs of Youth 2007 B.V. Olgun and Omar Vsquez Barbosa Imprinted in the United States of America
7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Para don Amrico con todo respeto y para las poetas chicanas y los poetas chicanos que se han inspirado en su vida y obra

Contents
Literary Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii Amrico Paredes Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lxv Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth Prlogo / Prologue I. La lira patritica / The Patriotic Lyric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 A Mxico / To Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Himno / Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mxico, la ilusin . . . / Mexico, the Illusion . . . . . . . . . . 12 El sueo de Bolvar / Bolvars Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 II. La msica / Music Guadalupe la Chinaca / Guadalupe la Chinaca . . . . . . . . 24 Canciones / Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Paso doble / Paso Doble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Rumba / Rumba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 III. La naturaleza / Nature Oracin / Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 El Ro Bravo / The Rio Grande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 El huracn / The Hurricane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Primavera en la ciudad / Spring in the City . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Tarde de otoo / Autumns Evening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Serenata de plata / Silver Serenade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Noche / Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
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Amrico Paredes

IV. La comedia del amor / The Comedy of Love Cancin / Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 No sias creido / Don Be Conceited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 A una sajona / To An Anglo Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Fbula / Fable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Amor y rosas / Love and Roses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Juguete (I) . . . / Toy (I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Juguete (II) . . . / Toy (II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Lgrimas negras / Black Tears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Ojos tristes / Sad Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Serenata / Serenade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Si t supieras / If You Knew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Rima (I) . . . / Rhyme (I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Rima (II) . . . / Rhyme (II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Rima (III) . . . / Rhyme (III) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Song to Celia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 V. La tragedia del amor / The Tragedy of Love Rima (IV) . . . / Rhyme (IV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 A la suerte / To Luck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Rima (V) . . . / Rhyme (V) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Musa / Muse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Rima (VI) . . . / Rhyme (VI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Canta / Sing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Carolina / Caroline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Ojos verdes / Green Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Llueve / It Rains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Plumas negras / Black Feathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Horas felices / Good Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 May Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Azul y verde / Blue and Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Rima (VII) . . . / Rhyme (VII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Vuelve la amada / My Beloved Returns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Primer amor / First Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Lamour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Flor de burdel / Bordello Flower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

VI. In memoriam / In Memory Crossing the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Soneto escrito . . . / Sonnet Written . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Epitafio / Epitaph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Rosa / Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 A Blanca / To Blanca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 VII. La voz rebelde / The Rebellious Voice Rima (VIII) . . . / Rhyme (VIII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Lgrimas de ceniza / Tears of Ash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Letana / Litany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Rima (IX) . . . / Rhyme (IX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Rima (X) . . . / Rhyme (X) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Rima (XI) . . . / Rhyme (XI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Nocturno / Nocturne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Rima (XII) . . . / Rhyme (XII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158 VIII. Dcimas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 IX. LEnvoi Al cumplir . . . / Upon Turning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Addenda El Pocho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Alma Pocha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Note on Translators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

ix

Amrico Paredes Literary Chronology

1915 1932 1934
Born September 3, in Brownsville, Texas. Wins High School poetry Brownsville High School. contest representing

Wins statewide poetry contest sponsored by Trinity University while a student at Brownsville High School. Paredes sonnet submission, Night, is published in the Valley Morning Star, May 3. Reads and writes poetry in collaboration with advertising campaigns by local Mexican-American merchants in Brownsville. Wins academic contest for essay on Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra while a student at Brownsville Junior College. Writes first version of landmark poem, The Mexico-Texan and publishes it in the Brownsville Herald a year later. Grande Writers Circle. Members send unpublished poems and dcimas in correspondence and hold regular meetings to discuss literature and political philosophy.

1930s

1935 1935

1935-40s Active literary exchanges with writers from the Lower Rio

1936

Publishes poem Guadalupe la Chinaca in unidentified local newspaper (probably the Brownsville Herald) on June 7. Sketches plan for first poetry collection to be called Black Roses. Some of the poems subsequently included in Cantos de adolescencia. Others remain lost or were destroyed by the author.
xi

Literary Chronology

1936-40s Wrote journalism features on folklore for the Brownsville

Herald. Writes first novel George Washington Gmez.

1937

Publishes Cantos de adolescencia with Librera Espaola, San Antonio, Texas. Prominent businessmen and writers honor Paredes, who had come to be known as El joven bardo, at literary banquet in Matamoros, Mexico. La Prensa (San Antonio) publishes a two-page special pull-out section of excerpts from Cantos de adolescencia, October 18. Gregorio Garza Flores, editor of El Regional (Matamoros, Mexico), encourages Paredes to write prose fiction through correspondence dated August 25. Noted University of Texas librarian Carlos E. Castaeda praises Cantos de adolescencia and predicts Paredes will obtain the success he deserves and will vindicate the reputation of his people (obtendr el xito que merece y vindicar el nombre de su raza) in a letter dated October 25. Receives award of decorative leather jacket for Cantos de adolescencia from The Arizona Quarterly. Publishes poem Mi pueblo de amanecer, dedicated to fellow writer Sabas Klahn, in unknown Brownsville newspaper (probably the Brownsville Herald) in May. First documented payment for unknown poem published in Texas Farming and Citriculture trade magazine.

1938

1939

Writes The Hammon and the Beans, which is published in the Texas Observer on April 18, 1963. Publishes Spanish version of The Mexico-Texan (El Mexico-Texano) in La Voz (Brownsville), August 31. University of Texas Library requests a copy of Cantos de adolescencia for its archives.

1940-50s Wrote column for El Universal (Mexico City). 1941

1944

Wrote Prologue to fellow Rio Grande Writers Circle poet Manuel Cruz collection of poetry, Romanso Azul. An early draft of Paredes prologue is included in the Amrico Paredes Papers, but Cruz manuscript remains lost.
xii

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

1944-46

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944. Wrote as enlisted soldier for U.S. Army newspaper Stars and Stripes, and served as a political editor who covered the war crimes trials of Japanese officers. Featured poetry performance with musicians in Brownsville, Texas, November 21-22. Works as uniformed member of the American Red Cross stationed in various countries throughout Asia. Imbeds unpublished poems in letters home to his wife on American Red Cross stationary, and also lays out sketches for borderlands stories and novellas on U.S. government stationary. Writes the short story Over the Waves published in the New Mexico Review in 1953. Graduates with B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin. Receives M.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin. While still a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, wins prizes for a novel, The Shadow and unidentified short story. Receives Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin at age 40. Dissertation, With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and its Hero, is published by the University of Texas Press. Paredes receives death threats for his critical treatment of the Texas Rangers. Short story The Hammon and the Beans is published in the Texas Observer on April 18. With Joseph Castle and M.M., Cole Press publishes Folk Music of Mexico: Book for the Guitar No. 671, Chicago, Illinois. Publishes scholarly folio The Dcima on the TexasMexican Border. Publishes A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border, University of Illinois Press.
xiii

1945 1946-50

1948 1951 1953 1955

1956 1958

1963 1966

1968 1976

Literary Chronology

1989 1990 1991

Awarded the Charles Frankel Prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Publishes George Washington Gmez: A Mexico-texan Novel, Arte Pblico Press. Publishes collection of poetry, Between Two Worlds, Arte Pblico Press. Paredes claims in introduction to have destroyed many early poems. Awarded El guila Azteca, the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor bestowed on foreign nationals by the government of Mexico.

1993

Publishes Uncle Remus con Chile, Arte Pblico Press. Publishes Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border, University of Texas Press.

1994

Publishes The Hammon and the Beans, and Other Stories, consisting of stories written in the 1930s and 1940s, Arte Pblico Press. Publishes novella, The Shadow, Arte Pblico Press. Dies on Cinco de Mayo (May 5) in Austin, Texas, on the anniversary of the Mexican defeat of French occupation troops in Puebla, Mexico in 1862. Amrico Paredes Papers opened to the public at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection.

1998 1999

2002

xiv

Preface
This translation of Amrico Paredes Manzanos first collection of poetry was undertaken as a collaborative project by Omar Vsquez Barbosa, a former graduate student research assistant at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and me, an Associate Professor of Chicana/o Literature at the same institution. We were a perfect match for this project for several reasons. We are both bilingual and, as published poets, we both have an intimate knowledge of poetry as an art and, above all else, as a difficult, oftentimes tedious, and emotionally taxing craft. This insight has enabled the creativity and perseverance required to reconstruct and, at times, recompose Paredes varied and sometimes convoluted style and forms of verse. More importantly, our own personal backgrounds and disciplinary experiences add valuable perspective to the translation process and also provide insights to our overall attempts to produce an aesthetically pleasing and academically useful annotated translation of Cantos de adolescencia. That is, in an attempt to introduce this little-known work to a broader audience, we approached Paredes U.S.-Mexico borderlands poetics from Aztln (the Southwestern United States) and Latin America, respectively. My own background as a Tejano from a workingclass Chicano barrio, along with my comparative literature training in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Stanford University and subsequent experience as an English Professor at various universities in the United States, add depth to my firsthand knowledge of the Chicana/o vernacular Spanish
xv

Preface

and popular culture that is so crucial to Paredes life and work. My training in Peninsular Spanish Literature as well as my research and writing in Latin American and Chicana/o literatures are crucial to explicating Paredes poetic discourse, which ranges from the high diction of the Spanish Renaissance to idiomatic Chicana/o Spanish as well as popular poetic and musical forms from the borderlands and the Americas at large. Omar, a chilango (Mexico City native) by birth and transplanted Tejano and world traveler, brings a bicultural metropolitan command of the Spanish- and English-languages as well as a corresponding knowledge about Mexican and British literature. In addition, Omar has written several experimental plays that creatively extrapolate from the works of canonical British authors such as Milton, which has given him insights into the complex process of mimicry and transformation that undergirds Paredes own work. Moreover, Omars youthful vitality and consummate love of poetry has helped us keep Paredes art at the center of this archival recovery project. In an attempt to collapse, as much as possible, the typically hierarchical faculty/student relationship, we divided this project into several components and tasks in order to equally share the joys as well as the burdens of the overall enterprise. Based on our experiences with and research on translation theory and practice, we developed a multiple-stage method that facilitated the task of translating Paredes manuscript. We began the translation, chronologically from first to last poem, by first producing our own individual translation draft of the piece at hand. We then compared each individual draft and used them as templates to produce a jointly authored working English version of the Paredes original. This joint translation session ranged in time, from thirty minutes to as much as two hours for one draft of a single poem, depending on the complexity and difficulty of the piece. The difficulty oftentimes was compounded by Paredes colloquialisms and neologisms as well as his frequent use of rhymed verse, irregular rhyme schemes, and highly convoluted
xvi

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

Spanish syntax. After completing jointly authored drafts of the entire manuscript, we approached our translations anew as poets for a third round of revision to make sure that each piece had its own internal integrity while still remaining true to the original. The fourth round of revision involved a joint re-reading of the whole manuscript. We both made minor revisions as appropriate. This was followed by further review, discussion, and collaborative revision via email after Omar returned to Mexico City and then moved to Spain to pursue a career in filmmaking. Finally, we decided to bring closure to the draft stage of the project after eighteen months in order to solicit feedback from outside readers. I then made one more review and revision of the entire manuscript in light of this feedback and submitted the penultimate version to Dr. Nicols Kanellos, Director of Arte Pblico Press and the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. Final adjustments were made to the overall document in consultation with the editors of Arte Pblico Press. Unlike the translation regimen, which we shared, we divided the research component of the project into individual tasks. I was responsible for initiating the project and writing all grants for support. We received several awards: a Faculty Research Grant awarded to me by the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1992 to conduct preliminary research and plan the project, a Grant-In-Aid from the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, which was awarded to Omar and me for the translation portion, and a Research Assistantship awarded to us both from the UTSA Department of English, Classics and Philosophy to continue the project. I conducted all the archival recovery research at the Archival Collections room at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, where I searched for and reproduced Paredes manuscript and relevant loose poems, correspondence, related writings, and photographs. Omar conducted research to trace Paredes eclectic invocations of British, Spanish, French, and classical Greek literature and folklore. This involved extensive
xvii

Preface

study of poetry from a variety of literary figures that include Gustavo Adolfo Bcquer, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Ben Jonson, and John Keats among many others. Omar also conducted musicology research to help define and describe the folk music forms that Paredes glosses, and he also provided etymologies and taxonomies to explain obscure references that frequently emerged in Paredes verse (e.g., the zenzontli bird). We both worked together to track down other interpersonal and intertextual references, which ranged from former Mexican expatriate cultural arts patron Nemesio Garca Naranjo to Paredes contemporaries such as the obscure young Mexican-American poet Roberto Ramrez Ramrez. We used the resultant data to complete the annotations and addenda and also to jointly author the introduction. I was responsible for researching and writing the first part of the introduction on Paredes significance to Chicana/o and American cultural studies, and Omar was responsible for researching and writing the second section regarding the different schools of translation theory and practice. We jointly reviewed and revised the overall draft of the introduction. As the Director of the Amrico Paredes Translation Project I took editing license to complete the final draft of the entire manuscript for submission to Arte Pblico Press. While I am the founder and director of the Amrico Paredes Translation Project, we both share authorship and equal copyright for the manuscript. B.V. Olgun, Director Amrico Paredes Translation Project

xviii

Acknowledgments
Many people are responsible for the publication of this translation of Amrico Paredes Manzanos inaugural collection of verse. The project had its genesis in an invitation made to Ben by Professor Jos Limn, Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He was asked to make a presentation at the first annual Amrico Paredes symposium in 2001, and became aware of the existence of Cantos de adolescencia during the research for the presentation. Bens presentation, incidentally, was the only one devoted to Paredes verse, which illuminated the need for greater access to this text. University of Texas at Austin Professor Emiliano Zamora provided enthusiastic encouragement for the translation project. Ben received a grant from the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) to conduct preliminary archival research in 2002, which resulted in a research article in Aztln published in the 30th Anniversary Special Issue in 2005. Both Ben and Omar received a grant to begin translating the book from the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project. The Department of English, Classics and Philosophy at UTSA also provided generous support to the translation team by awarding Ben and Omar with a Research Assistantship to continue with the project. We thank these agencies and programs for their support. The archivists at the Benson Latin American Collection ensured the success of the project. Margot Gutirrez was helpxix

Acknowledgments

ful throughout the entire process and the entire staff of the Archival Collections and Rare Book Room were absolutely wonderful. Their proficient help in locating relevant materials, including those that are not part of the Amrico Paredes Papers, was invaluable. Moreover, their enthusiasm for research was contagious and inspiring and motivated the completion of the project that, after the first one hundred hours of archival research, had became quite tedious even as it was always thrilling to watch a literary life unfold page by page. This project to translate the early poetry of a foundational figure in Chicana/o literary history also relied on the research of distinguished Paredes scholars such as Ramn Saldvar, Jos David Saldvar, Rafael Prez-Torres, Mara Herrera-Sobek, Jos Limn, Hector Perez, Rachel Jennings, and Louis G. Mendoza. John M. Gonzlez introduced Ben to the possibility of Chicano signifying in Paredes verse during a bus ride several days after the 2001 Paredes Symposium that, incidentally, was stopped by the U.S. Border Patrol. We offer the Immigration and Naturalization (INS) officers who interrogated them a bit of gratitude for reminding us that the colonial context that Paredes engaged in the 1930s is still an intrusive and oppressive part of the Chicana/o reality today. As an addendum to the forced response to the INS query of where were you born, we note that the here they referenced is the geopolitical terrain Don Amrico called Nuevo Santander to the day he died. We call it Aztln. UTSA Professors Wendy Barker and Norma Cant provided Omar with invaluable mentoring in creative writing and also helped inspire his interests in poetry and translation. We are particularly grateful for early readings of the manuscript by UTSA Professors Louis G. Mendoza, Norma Cant, Santiago Dayd-Tolson, and Bernadette Andrea. Professor Barker also provided crucial insights on overcoming some translation challenges in the preface to her jointly authored translation of Rabindranath Tagore, which served as a model for our project. The staff of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at the
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

UTSA Downtown Campus, especially Sylvia Rodriguez and David Espinoza, provided crucial technical and logistical support. This project simply could never have been completed without their patience and solidarity. More importantly, the college also helped defray costs for printing, phone calls, postage, and materials related to the research and writing. We offer a special thanks to former UTSA Dean Louis Mendoza for taking a personal interest in the project and his continued solidarity and consultations from his new post as the Director of the Chicana/o Studies Department at the University of Minnesota. Finally, Dr. Nicols Kanellos deserves another thanks for his diligent support of broader efforts to recuperate and publish Paredes early works. This project, like so much of the relatively new discipline of Chicana/o literary studies, is indebted to Kanellos vision, diligence, and overall commitment to Raza Letters. He is an unsung hero who gave many Chicana and Chicano writers their start by publishing their works when no one would even read their writing. Moreover, Kanellos continues his trailblazing mission to expand and diversify the conventional understanding about the literatures of the Americas by also enabling us to recover the unread works by major Chicana/o authors. Un abrazo. B.V. Olgun and Omar Vsquez Barbosa

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Reconstructing Chicana/o Literary History: Amrico Paredes Manzano & the Foundations of Pocho Poetics
Soy pocho! Dios me haga orgullo de los pochos as como los pochos son mi orgullo. Quisiera llegar a ser el orgullo de los pochos. Im Pocho! May God make me pride of the Pochos just like Pochos are my pride. I would like to become the pride of Pochos. Amrico Paredes, circa 1940

I. Recovering Paredes When Amrico Paredes wrote this short limerick in his mid twenties, he could never have guessed that he not only would become the pride of Mexican Americansthe proverbial Pochosbut also a model for subsequent generations of MexicanAmerican and Chicana/o poets and artists.1 (See Figure 1.) In fact, by the time of his death on the symbolically significant day of May 5, 1999 at the age of 84, he had become an icon in the relatively new discipline of Chicana/o Studies. Even before he wrote these playful though ultimately prophetic words, the young Paredes (who followed the Mexican custom of using his mothers maiden name Manzano until he entered the U.S.
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Army in 1944), already had published dozens of newspaper editorials and features on Mexican-American culture and politics, composed songs in English and Spanish, and written three collections of poetry in English, Spanish and vernacular bilingual combinations of both.2 He succeeded in publishing one of these manuscripts, the Spanish-language anthology he titled Cantos de adolescencia, which was issued through Librera Espaola in 1937 in San Antonio, Texas. (See Figure 2.) These published and unpublished early writings, which became available to the public through the Amrico Paredes Papers at the Archival Collections of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin in 2002, are among Paredes least known yet perhaps most important works: they foreground many of the concerns that will crystalize in the succeeding fifty years of Paredes multi-facetted career as a poet, short story writer, novelist, folklorist, musicologist, and literary scholar. Paredes eclectic and wide-ranging corpus of creative and scholarly writings is particularly important because it anticipates and some say inauguratesChicana/o literary and cultural studies as an academic discipline in the 1970s and 1980s. The ever-growing number of articles, books, theses, and dissertations about Paredes writings is testament to his stature as the Mexican American W.E.B. Du Bois. Indeed, Paredes extended explorations of the Pocho, whom he proposed as the paradigmatic bicultural yet bifurcated Mexican-American subject with his own unique vernacular epistemology can be seen as a U.S.-Mexico borderlands analogue to Du Bois double consciousness.3 Despite the popularity of Paredes scholarship, his own literary work, especially his poetry, only recently has begun to receive the critical attention it deserves. However, with the exception of B.V. Olguns recent article in the Chicano Studies Journal, Aztln, all studies of Paredes poetry have been based exclusively on his second collection of verse, Between Two Worlds, which was co-edited by Ramn Saldvar in 1991.4
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

While it is important to note that Between Two Worlds includes a significant number of poems that span 1934 to 1971 (including selections from Paredes early aborted poetry collections we discuss further below), it excludes all but one poem from Paredes Cantos de adolescencia. This poemthe original 1934 English version of The Rio Grande that the author had recomposed in Spanish in 1936 as El Ro Bravo for inclusion in his inaugural Spanish-language collectionserves as a bridge between both anthologies. More importantly, this poem about a river with two names that functions as a border also serves as a metonym of Paredes conflicted, life-long preoccupation with place, language, and the complexities of Mexican-American literary and cultural genealogy. Even though Paredes knew what he wanted to write about at this formative period in his lifethe turbulent history of the lower Rio Grande/Ro Bravo borderlands and its peoples defiant and resilient longevityhe was not completely sure of which language and style to use and, moreover, what it all meant. His subsequent life-long efforts to explicate the unique elements of Mexican-American life are first illustrated in Cantos de adolescencia, which encompasses the short but crucial period from 1932-1937, when the poet grew from a seventeen-year-old adolescent to a twenty-one-year-old young man. More importantly, the poems in Paredes first collection not only foreground the attributes that scholars have celebrated in their examinations of Between Two Worlds. Rather, they illustrate how Paredes apparent diatribes against U.S. imperialism and purported celebrations of cultural hybridity are more ideologically inchoate; so much so that they may require a complete paradigm shift in Chicana/o literary and cultural studies. Scholars of Paredes prose have noted that his innovative hybrid poetics and provocative counterhegemonic posture revolve around the conflicted spatial ontology of the borderlands Mexico-Texan, which Paredes frequently referred to as the Pocho.5 The Pocho emerges as a historical archetype in the U.S.xxv

Introduction

Mexico borderlands as a result of the shift to U.S. hegemony following the American annexation of the region at the culmination of the U.S.-Mexico War in 1848. This figure generally is understood to be an acculturated person of Mexican descent born (or raised) in the conflicted border region that is renowned for Mexico-Texan insurrection and attendant Anglo-Texan atrocities. Like Homi Bhabhas mimic man, the Pochos deliberate attempts to claim inclusion in the polis ironically mark his exclusion due in part to a lingering accent, cultural mistranslations, and transformations, as well as other signifiers of difference such as dark skin. It is therefore not surprising that the Pocho has become a stock figure in Mexican-American and Chicana/o literature who animates competing ideologies. In depictions by many Mexican and even Mexican-American authors prior to the 1950s, the Pocho serves as a MexicanAmerican model of cultural degeneracy for his or her purported loss of Mexicanness arising from life in the United States. In contrast, the literature of the Chicana/o civil rights era during the 1960s and 1970s oftentimes represents the Pocho as an idealized racial and cultural mestizo (mixed-blood subject), or rather, the empowered Chicana/o. Paredes lifelong work resists such simplistic binaries and Cantos de adolescencia is crucial to his exploration of the complexities of Mexican-American hybridity. Paredes first articulates a portrait of this paradigmatic figure through intimate, oftentimes painful personal expressions of angst and analysis in the pages of his adolescent and young adult verse. Indeed, of all the forms and genres Paredes utilizedfrom scholarly prose, various song genres in English and Spanish, editorial and feature journalism, and prose fiction poetry remains the only genre in which Paredes allowed himself the liberty to indulge in the first person voice to explore the themes that make him such an important figure in Chicana/o Studies and broader American Studies. It is fitting, then, that one of the titles Paredes considered for a collection to accompany
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

Cantos de adolescencia was Alma Pocha, or Pocho Soul, which also was the title of an expanded version of his 1936 poem El Pocho.6 (For versions of these poems, see Addenda.) The Alma Pocha remained an important trope in his explorations of Mexican-American epistemology and ontology throughout his multi-genre corpus, and he considered using it again as the title of a proposed collected poems towards the end of his life. (This proposed collection subsequently was re-titled as Various Verse, then Versos varios and, finally, was published in abbreviated form as Between Two Worlds.) The alma pocha ultimately becomes the signifier of a unique persona and poetic that helped define an important rupture and genesis in the literature of the Americas. That is, as early as the 1930s Paredes names and performs what subsequent generations of scholars of Mexican-American and Chicana/o poetry such as Alfred Arteaga later will identify as a complex intercultural heteroglot signifying practice composed of competing and conflicting genealogies that nonetheless retains its own integrity as a unique poetic (1994, 13). This Pocho poetic is dramatically rendered in Paredes first person, autobiographical poetic persona throughout the pages of Cantos de adolescencia, and therefore makes this text an indispensable touchstone for all Paredes scholarship as well as Mexican-American and Chicana/o literary studies. This jointly authored translation and bilingual edition of Cantos de adolescencia, which we are calling Songs of Youth for reasons discussed further below, is thus intended to serve multiple audiences. First and foremost, we have sought to present an accurate and poetically accomplished translation, that is, a translation that retains the integrity of the Spanish original while still reading as good poetry in English. (We have been aided in this endeavor in several cases by Paredes own English versions that have been recovered from the Amrico Paredes Papers as well as by the original English poems he glosses from poets such as Ben Jonson.) An English translation of this foundational figure in Mexican-American Letters, we hope, will expand
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Paredes audience and also enable his large number of bilingual and monolingual fans to access the works from his important formative period. This translation and related annotations also are intended for a scholarly audience interested in further exploring Paredes discourses on hybridity, cultural conflict, transnationalism, gender relations, race relations, materialism, and the variety of other topics he engages in his later works. This translation is particularly essential to Paredes scholarship given that it provides primary materials from the authors adolescence and young adulthoodwhich he calls the period of transition and metamorphosisthat has remained unexamined and undertheorized in all extant biographies and related scholarship. Moreover, Cantos de adolescencia includes poems from as early as 1932, two years before the earliest poem included in Between Two Worlds, and several years before Paredes commenced his now canonical historical novel, George Washington Gmez in 1936.7 We also provide facsimiles of select early poems, including Paredes earliest extant poem from 1930, when the poet was not yet 15, as well as other loose poems up to 1937, the publication date of Cantos de adolescencia. (See Figures 5 and 9.) This text thus can be seen as a complement to, and extension of Between Two Worlds. To further aid readers and researchers, we also include a facsimile of Paredes own Table of Contents for a planned collection, which references some poems that are now lost. (See Figure 59.) In some cases, we also have included facsimiles of poems written after 1937 in order to situate important issues, themes, and signifying practices in Paredes literary corpus. We recognize that this endeavor to recuperate and reconstruct the legacy of a poet after his death is highly problematic, especially given the fact that Paredes personally and deliberately destroyed many of his early poems so that they never would be published. However, we take these recovery, translation, and publication liberties with implicit license from Don Amrico Paredes himself. In a typed log in which he itemizes his prepaxxviii

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

ration of his personal papers for archivinga process that also included the permanent destruction of as many as several dozen poemsParedes recognizes the importance of his early verse even as he expresses dissatisfaction with their quality. In the entry dated April 16, 1979, he writes:
[I] began sifting through my verse today, with the intention of throwing away a good part and saving some that may be left behind me. Twenty years or so ago, my intention had been to destroy almost all of it. I am aware that most of it is incredibly bad, especially the verse in English; and that even the better pieces are not especially memorable. Still, since every one of my verbal atrocities has sentimental and biographical value for me, I put off the holocaust until I should be closer to the end. But things have changed in the past decade. During that time I have become a Precursor to the young Mexicanos in Texas and California. My literary attempts, no matter their quality, have become of historical interest to them. Already Alurista has published a few of my verse compositions in Spanish; and Mara Herrera-Sobek, my first biographer, has even dug up that folly of my youth, Cantos de adolescencia, and commented upon it in an article she has done on me for a forthcoming dictionary of Chicano scholars and writers.8

Towards the end of the entry that later forms the basis of the prologue to the aforementioned planned (but never published) anthology of collected poems, Versos varios, he turns his historicist cultural studies gaze onto his own writings:
Furthermore, the content of many of the verse compositions even the very bad onesdo reveal something about my feelings and attitudes during the 1930s and 1940s on such things as racial relations and culture conflict. These are the things young Mexicanos are asking me about these days. So I will try to make some notes about things as I saw them (as they are recorded in some of the discarded pieces) for somebodys future reference, perhaps even mine.
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Apparently aware of his status as a precursor to Chicano cultural nationalist poets, Paredes makes a point of recording the titles of all his poems. He also summarizes their content and even excerpts those he destroyed:
I will leave a record of themes and titles of the pieces discarded for purposes of remembering landmarks of years past. I may even have time to write down something in the way of memoirs. If not, they may be grist for some Chicano scholars mill later on.9

The translations and related annotations included in this bilingual volume thus are intended to further the cause to which Paredes dedicated the greater part of his own life: the continued production of knowledge about Mexican Americans and Chicana/os. Paredes early poetry is invaluable grist for this mill. We thank him for this gift. As such, this translation of Cantos de adolescencia fulfills the stated goals of the Arte Pblico Press Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, which sponsored the enterprise. Under the direction of noted scholar Nicols Kanellos, Arte Pblico Press groundbreaking initiative received funding by the Rockefeller Foundation to undertake the enormous task of locating, rescuing, evaluating, and disseminating primary literary materials written by Hispanics, from the colonial period to 1960, across the geographic area that is now the United States.10 To date, scholars sponsored by this initiative have recovered literally thousands of novels, memoirs, treatises, plays, poetry anthologies, and assorted other writings produced by Latinas/os in the area that subsequently becomes the United States of America dating as far back in history as the sixteenth century. Recovery Project scholars also have published nearly a dozen recovered texts and produced over 100 scholarly articles and presentations. Pursuant to recovering, translating and annotating Cantos de adolescencia, and further illuminating its authors significance to Mexican-American literary and cultural historywhich is an inalienable part of the literary and cultural
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

history of the Americas in generalwe have included relevant excerpts of correspondence, photographs, and other materials from the Amrico Paredes Papers. These include the original advertisement for Cantos de adolescencia, which cost $1 in 1937, or $4 Oro Nacional, that is, four Mexican Pesos linked to the gold standard. (See Figure 3.) We also include selected newspaper clippings and correspondence announcing the precocious young poets performances as well as his numerous awards from 1932 to the early 1940s. (See Figures 4-15.) The archives contain an even more important document: the badly deteriorated yet still legible October 18, 1937 issue of the Spanishlanguage newspaper La Prensa (San Antonio, Texas), which ran a two-page pull-out that features Cantos de adolescencia. (See Figure 16.) This addition to the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project also contains facsimiles of the original published versions of the poems that comprise Cantos de adolescencia as well as those from the same period that are excluded from the manuscript. Many of the prefaces to these early poems provide significant contextual notes by the author or newspaper editor. The poem Guadalupe la Chinaca, for instance, was used to advertise a major musical performance by a prominent Mexican singer. (See Figures 17-18.) Like other occasional poems that Paredes published, such as New Years Eve, this advertisement reveals his role as a populist oral bard whose literary productions and performances were undertaken for the purpose of being both utilitarian and entertaining for a mass audience. (See Figure 19.) In fact, the oral bard is a popular and common figure in Mexican-American and Chicana/o poetry up to the present.11 This apparently trite populist poetic also was very serious and politically engaged. On this note, the prefaces to Paredes 1935 biting anti-imperialist satirical and existentialist poem, The Mexico-Texan, offer several unexpected insights into the various negotiations of power by several segments of the Mexican-American population during the 1930s. In
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the introductory comments to a previously unknown Spanish version of the poem published in La Voz, a Spanish-language newspaper in Brownsville, Texas, the editor asks pardon of our Mexico-Texan readers who are sufficiently intelligent enough to know how to take the humorous tone of the composition.12 In an English reprint of the poem in another South Texas newspaper, the editors justify their publication of the poem by citing from a statement issued by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which apparently was the first to publish Paredes verse explication of the brutal psychological toll of U.S. imperialism on Mexican Americans. In a position that seems uncharacteristic of the otherwise strategically patriotic organization, LULAC proclaimed: We published this rhyme because it contains more truth than poetry and everyone who reads it will know how to understand its merit.13 In the Brownsville Herald publication of a longer English version, Paredes notes that the poem was never meant for publication, but adds that since it apparently had been circulating in altered bootlegged forms and was even being used for political rallies, he chose to publish the poem in its original form. He adds, perhaps with too much hyperbole to be taken at face value, that the poem was nothing but a whim of a half-serious, half-comic mood.14 (For facsimiles of early publications of The MexicoTexan see Figures 20-22.) Together, these facsimiles shed light on the early popular reception of a figure whose writings were responding to the popular and populist needs and sentiments of the South Texas Mexican-American population long before the publication of his more renowned work, With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero in 1958. In addition to these materials, we include facsimiles of selected letters by newspaper editors that laud the young authors literary merit. In one significant instance, the editor of El Regional, a Spanish-language periodical in the Mexican border town of Matamoros (for which Paredes later worked), was so impressed with Cantos de adolescencia that he called the
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poems that comprise it early poetic fruits of magnificent taste, and urged the novice writer to try his hand at prose. One can only imagine how such glowing praise from an esteemed editor influenced the young Paredes, especially since he dates his first novel, George Washington Gmez, as having been initiated in 1936 and completed in 1940. The archives also contain letters of praise from the noted University of Texas librarian Carlos E. Castaeda. Paredes even engaged in correspondence with the Texas Farming and Citriculture Journal, an unlikely venue that published his poetry. The young Paredes, it seems, was as diligent in promoting his writing as he was at producing it. (See Figures 23-26.) A less provocative though no less interesting item in the Amrico Paredes Papers is the original leather jacket awarded to Paredes by the prestigious journal, The Arizona Quarterly, in recognition of the literary merit he exhibits in Cantos de adolescencia. The colorful jacket fit perfectly. (See Figure 27.) The archive collection also contains one of the three known copies of the original Cantos de adolescencia, in which Paredes included a stunning photograph of himself dressed as a Pachuco that we have recuperated for the cover of this translation.15 We also have included an equally significant photograph of Paredes as a young boy alongside his sister Blanca on the occasion of her first communion. Blanca apparently died as a young girl and Paredes dedicated several poems to her, such as A Blanca, which is part of Cantos de adolescencia. (See Figures 28-29.) The wealth of materials contained in the Amrico Paredes archives inevitably extends beyond the scope of this translation project but are nonetheless important to recognize. Indeed, in the process of reviewing the extensive archive, which contains over 69 linear feet of printed matter as well as other textile and audiovisual materials, we discovered previously unpublished and unknown poems and related song lyrics. The poems not only date to Paredes earliest surviving compositions from 1930, but also date to his last known poem, the 1981 poem ltima
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carta, which the author removed from the final version of Between Two Worlds during the final stage of editing.16 The archives also reveal that Paredes was the consummate poet, oftentimes interspersing poems in personal letters to family, friends, and colleagues. Indeed, most of his correspondence to his wife is imbedded with love poetry. And Paredes was a tireless note taker. His archives contain numerous loose sheets and also more extensive handwritten notebooks with limericks and doggerel verse as well as accomplished first drafts of published poems and completed drafts of compositions that have never been published. Paredes even was an avid collector of poems from family and, more importantly, the circle of poets from South Texas who wrote voluminous letters and poems that frequently included glosses from each others compositions. In a June 23, 1989 letter to Nicols Kanellos, Paredes recalls:
There were a lot of us mejicanos writing verse and prose in the 30s and 40s; I belonged to a little group of such writers on the Lower Border. But as far as I know, I was the only one who attempted to address the social and political problems of our people through literature.17

These fellow borderlands poets included multigenerational, trans-border members such as Antonio Arangua, Mariano Manzano, Eleazar Paredes, Jose Pea, Sabas Klahn, Adan Ramos, Oscar J. del Castillo, Roberto Ramrez Ramrez, Gonzalo Casas Gutirrez, Petronilo M. Preciado, E.M. Cortinas, Francisco Valdez, and Manuel Cruz, whose works have yet to be recovered and analyzed.18 The correspondence between Paredes and his circle of writers involved poetry critiques and recommended revisions of each others works. In various letters and poems, for instance, Manuel Cruz provides important critiques on nomenclature (e.g., Paredes early use of American to refer to Anglo Americans instead of Latin Americans at large), and on matters concerning Pocho identity. Paredes incorporates his advice in later writings. In return, Paredes even wrote a prologue for Cruz
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poetry collection Romanso azul, a manuscript that is now lost. (The archives contain over 100 letters between Paredes and Cruz.) The correspondence between circle members also frequently includes homenajes, that is, occasional poems celebrating one anothers accomplishments or gratuitously celebrating their group as a whole, which included a cadre of young bohemians like Paredes. One example is the poem Pasatiempo lrico (Lyrical Pastime) by Manuel Cruz, which apparently recounts one of their frequent bachanalian reunions in 1944. These gatherings apparently span from the mid 1930s into the next decade and correspondence continued until the deaths of the circle members. Furthermore, many of these poets dedicate poems to Amrico Paredes, and Paredes repays the favor with homenajes, or tributes, to them up to the late 1950s. Indeed, even as late as the 1950s, Paredes uses a poem from a friend in a love letter to his wife Amelia. Moreover, several of his poems in Cantos de adolescencia contain glosses of poems written by members of what can veritably be called the lower Rio Grande Writers Circle, the term we use to refer to this cohort. The archives also contain several poems from Paredes father Eleazar Paredes and relatives such as Mariano Manzano (who were members of the group), as well as some youthful compositions that apparently are from a son. Rubn Paredes Cant, another cousin, also dedicated a dcima to Paredes as late as 1982.19 The Manzano and Paredes clans, the archives suggest, might be considered nascent Tejano literary families in a region rich with as yet unrecognized and unrecovered literary talent. (See Figures 30-45.) This literary recovery work remains to be done. A more vexing problem introduced by the Amrico Paredes Papers concerns the authors blurring of genres. Paredes is renowned for his recovery and preservation of vernacular forms of discourse and genres such as the epic heroic corrido. In fact, his primary claim to fame is his aforementioned archeology of El corrido de Gregorio Cortez (The Ballad of Gregorio
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Cortez), which forms the basis of With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero (1958), and a related feature film directed by Robert Young, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1984). Paredes early works, however, reveal his experiments with Greek, English, Anglo-American, Mexican, and MexicanAmerican genres and signifying practices that make him, as an artist, much harder to fix within any single genealogy. For instance, he freely experiments with traditional forms such as Greek fables, European sonnets, and Spanish and Mexican dcimas as well as folk song genres such as the son, danzn, bolero, and tango, among others. (The archives even contain examples of haikus and very many dichos, or vernacular proverbs, that Paredes apparently developed himself.) Adding to his complicated galley of influences, newspaper clippings in the Amrico Paredes Papers reveal that his earliest literary awards were for Petrarchan Sonnets! Moreover, as illustrated by the cover to the original edition of Cantos de adolescencia, Paredes poetic sensibilities are informed by classical models and Orientalist discourses. His poem Fbula is exemplary for its mimetic invocation of classical Greek fables, which he studied as part of his classicist training at UT Austin. The allusions to Pan on the cover illustration becomes particularly significant because it provides a contrapuntal model of the search for roots paradigm that later generations of Chicana/o authors will find in Mesoamerica. The irony arises from the fact that scholars have situated Paredes as a precursor to Chicana/o cultural nationalism. Moreover, the enormous and apt critical attention paid to Paredes anti-imperialist discourse also must be situated alongside the seemingly benign yet nonetheless exoticized image of an Arabian lamp on the cover of his first book, and the more problematic images of exotic foreign women in his later poetry that usually accompany such allusions in Western literature. As Olgun has explicated in his aforementioned essay, these highly racialized and gendered transnational allusions threaten to destabilize Paredes panamericanist and internationalist disxxxvi

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courses precisely because he replicates imperialist fantasies of the exotic Other. More critical work needs to be conducted into these contradictory and complicated aspects of Paredes work. The question of genealogy and genre is made even more fascinating given that Paredes set many of his lyrics to music or wrote lyrics for music he previously had written. We have featured selections of the original lyrics and scores for selected poems/songs included in Cantos de adolescencia (See Figures 46-48). This blurring of genres across literary traditions, which perhaps may also be seen as Paredes recognition of the oral roots of all poetry, may even necessitate a reassessment of previous celebrations of Paredes as a precursor to Chicana/o cultural nationalism, as well as more critical interrogation of the complicated and contradictory nature of cultural nationalism in general. The Prologue to Cantos de adolescencia, in which the author proclaims his collection to be the culmination of his decision to never again write in English, actually reveals a conflict over language and related literary influences that not only preoccupies Paredes for the rest of his life and career, but continues to animate debates among subsequent generations of Mexican American and Chicana/o writers and critics up to the present:
Los aos desde 1930 hasta 1936 forman una etapa de transicin en mi vidason los aos ciegos y desequilibrados de metamrfosis . . . [El nio] se sinti un momento netamente mexicano y al otro puro yanqui. Pero con la adolescencia llega el tiempo de las decisiones. Estas pginas son el resultado de esta lucha en el tiempo de decisin. Comenc a escribir verso desde la edad de quince aos pero mis obras fueron todas en ingls. Mis versos en espaol no comienzan hasta en 1932, dos aos despus. Esto se debe a la influencia de una escuela en ingls y de muy pocos libros en la lengua de Cervantes. En verdad, todava me siento ms seguro de m mismo en la lengua de Shakespeare que en la ma. (3)
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As the proliferation of later English compositions in Between Two Worlds confirms, Paredes never truly resolves his linguistic dilemma: he continues to compose in both languages and a vernacular hybridization of both that ultimately comes to characterize Pocho poetics. Moreover, an existentialist trajectory evolves within Paredes poetry corpus; it is a crisis that is at once inflected through his conflicted Mexican-American identity but also occasioned by the horrors of World War II. The sonnet dedicated to Manuel Cruz in his letter dated January 7, 1943 is a prime example of a feature that Limn has identified as Paredes tragic sentiment of the world. (See Figure 37.) Other archival notes and limericks add to this under-examined aspect of Paredes poetics. (See Figures 49-50.) Chicana/o existentialism and its relationship to post-WWI existentialism is perhaps a new avenue of inquiry that Cantos de adolescencia and Paredes other early writings may enable. In a further twist on an already complicated genealogy, the archives also reveal that during his nearly one-decade-long sojourn in Asia with the U.S. Army and the American Red Cross, Paredes even tried his hand at composing poems in phonetic Japanese! (See Figures 51-53.) This linguistic and existentialist dilemma is foregrounded in a paradigmatic performance of colonial mimicry as a young boy that enables us to further situate Cantos de adolescencia in a specific time and place even as we continue to decenter the Chicana/o cultural nationalist chauvinism it inaugurates. In the April 17, 1979 entry to the aforementioned log, Paredes recalls:
Looking over these old papers, I was reminded of my first poem in English, composed when I was in the third grade with Miss McCollum, bless her soul where she or it may be. I remember her very kindly. Time: the 1924-25 school year; I was nine. Miss McCollum read it in class, and I was very proud. I suppose it was then that I decided that I would be a poet in the English language, and it would be many years before I would stop trying. I still remember the four-line bit of doggerel, but I will not leave it recorded here. It was about a
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little pony I rode all over the countryside and across the river deep and wide.20

Even though he qualifies his mimetic desires by discussing the colonialist contexthis archives contain writings in which he complains about his teachers racism and incompetencehe also recounts how he actually loves European literature, especially the literature of Spain and England. In the April 18 entry he recalls:
[Algernon Charles] Swinburne and Gustavo Adolfo Bcquer were my models in those days. And also John Keats and Antonio Plaza. At least, some of my Spanish models were related to real life. My problem in English communication was that I was going through a period of violent nationalistic reaction against the local Anglo culture, which was of course American. At the same time, I was in love with English literature, but that literature was of another place and timeEngland of the 18th and early 19th centuries, plus Shakespeare and bits of Chaucer and Milton. This was the curriculum of the freshman and sophomore years in junior college, and it was exactly to my liking. In high school I had read Longfellow, Poe, Emerson, Bryant; but I had not been able to understand Whitman. And the bored, gum-chewing sweater girl who was my highschool English teacher was not much help. I do not believe I ever read a serious 20th-century author, especially the American ones until I had been out of school for several years (around 1939); and about the same time I discovered Whitman for myself. Consequently, the verse in BLACK ROSES [the unpublished and mostly lost manuscript that predates Cantos de adolescencia] for the most part used an idiom far removed from that of the U.S. in the 1930s. Complicating matters still further was the fact that most of the pieces were written to or for a daughter of the enemy.21

Paredes placement of the term enemy in quotation marks reveals his awareness that the dilemma over Mexican-American literary genealogy and cultural heritage is never completely
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resolved in his lifeeven as late as 1979. (The matter is further complicated by his own interracial second marriage to Amelia Nagamine, a Uruguayan women of Japanese descent to whom he writes some of the most romantic love letters and poems since Pablo Nerudas Twenty Poems of Love.) Cantos de adolescencia, and the poems written during this formative period, thus pressure for an important paradigm shift in conventional histories of Chicana/o studies that invoke Paredes presumed cultural nationalist fetish on all things Mexican. They reveal that the early Amrico Paredeswho identifies himself as the proto Chicano in the preface to Between Two Worldsactually was an Anglophile! Indeed, in the subsection of Cantos de adolescencia subtitled La comedia del amor (The Comedy of Love), Paredes even ventured on a translation of Ben Jonsons 1616 version of the poem Song: To Celiawhich he then signed as his own! He extended this cross-racial and transnational poetic mimicry with Lord Alfred Tennysons famous 1889 poem Crossing the Bar. In the more conventional accounts of Chicana/o literary history, scholars emphasize a dialogue with Spanish-language influences and, in the case of Alurista and other renowned Chicana/o cultural nationalist poets from the 1960s and 1970s Chicana/o Movement era, with Mesoamerica, specifically the Nahuatl poets of the Aztec empire.22 Paredes contrapuntal engagement with the British and Spanish literary canonswhich he claims to love even as he identified this love as a function of U.S. imperialismforces us to further assess the oftentimes effaced relationship between Mexican-American literature and the European and Euroamerican traditions. Paredess literary influences further extends between such canonical poles as British author Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) to more populist authors such as New York born poet Odgen Nash (1902-1971) and Mexican national poet Antonio Plaza (1833-1882). This is a discussion that continues to this day, and Paredes own negotiations of language, genealogy, and identityall of which takes shape in his early poetryenables
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

new insights into a period of Mexican-American literature that has been undertheorized through generational or oppositional resistance models.23 To make matters even more complicated, the Amrico Paredes Papers contain drafts for presumably anticolonialist stories that are drafted on U.S. military stationary!24 As such, Cantos de adolescencia offers broader opportunities for providing more complex and accurate assessments of MexicanAmerican and Chicana/o literature. This struggle over the appropriate language for MexicanAmerican literature also is illustrated by the very publication history of Cantos de adolescencia and related early works that ultimately were aborted. In this regard, the proposed titles have a metonymic significance. In the aforementioned log entry dated April 17, 1979, in which Paredes recalls that his first poem ever written was a short four-line bit of doggerel in English, he also fondly recalls his talent in the rhymed verbal joustings common among borderlands communities that is akin to the African-American rhyming duels known as the dozens:
In Spanish, I had been composing quatrains long before this time, though they were not of the type ones teacher would read in class. The boys verbal dueling tradition I grew up in required the improvisation of insulting quatrains, sometimes sung, and I began doing this sort of thing at an early age, of course.25

Nonetheless, his first collection was to be an English anthology entitled Black Roses, which was to encompass the period of his life from 1930 to 1936 (ages 15-21). (This title also appears to be an allusion to the poem by his cousin Mariano Manzano, which is included as Figure 32.) This English-language collection was to be prefaced with a quote from Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), a Victorian English poet, and the frontispiece included a black-ink drawing of a woman that alluded both to an American Southern Belle or an English damsel sitting by the window awaiting her suitor.26 (See Figures 54-57.) Significantly, Paredes notes in his log that this proposed collection
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Introduction

mostly consisted of poems written to the aforementioned Anglo woman named Carolyn, whose middle and surnames were abbreviated as C.D. Her racial identity was further obfuscated later as Carolina. As noted above, he describes her as a daughter of the enemy, which is the justification he has for not following through with his publication effort. He later discusses how some of the poems to Carolyn from another proposed collection titled Cantos a Carolina (which he identifies as initially consisting of poems written from 1934-36) had pages torn out, he surmises, by his first wife. Interestingly, a later handwritten title page for Cantos a Carolina reveals that he continued to write poems to her as late as 1946. (See Figure 58.) The protoChicano, it appears, had an Anglo-American muse for the first part of his poetic life. He destroys some of the surviving poems to Carolina of his own volition but also allows several to be included in Between Two Worlds. That is, from the very beginning, Paredes poetic effortsalong with certain non-literary pursuitswere bifurcated and ambivalent. Scholarship on Paredes has yet to adequately interrogate his gendered poetics nor his equally complicated language politics, and this edition is offered as an invitation for such analyses. As noted above, Paredes apparently produced a series Spanish poems contemporaneous with the English language Black Roses (his proposed first collection) that he was to title Alma Pocha. This collection later becomes Versos varios, then Cadencias (which alternately is called Cadences), and forms the basis of Between Two Worlds. In a short essay titled, Preface To the 1930-1936 English Collection that was to preface the aborted Black Roses, he notes that Cadencias closes on May 31, 1936. This collection, much of which was destroyed, also includes some poems that survived to be published in Cantos de adolescencia. Most of these are Rimas, or Rhymes, which are short oftentimes trite love limmericks inspired by, or direct translations of the Spanish Romantic poet Gustavo Adolfo Bcquer (1836-1870). This preface makes reference to materials that
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

apparently are lost (perhaps even destroyed by the author himself). In a surprising archival discovery, Paredes also refers to a collection of multi-genre writings titled Nonesensicalities, which he claims to have written under the pseudonym Gulinto Gmezthe epynomous characer in his historical novel George Washington Gmez. This link to Paredes paradigmatic Pocho character, whose heroic name is transformed by the borderlands Spanish accent into Gulintoa South Texas permutation of Bhabhas mimic maninvites further study of the autobiographical basis of the novel even though these writings apparently are lost.27 This is particularly significant because Gulintos ambiguous ideological status at the end of the novel seems dissonant with the hypernationalist poems of Cantos de adolescencia; that is, Paredes Pocho, and Paredes-as-Pocho, share a tense relationship with one another that scholars have yet to fully explore. This Preface also references a collection of songs to be called Musicalities.28 In the log entry dated April 15, 1979, he notes that he has successfully transcribed 34 of the 60 songs he once composed or knew, and had planned to continue reconstructing as many as possible in the ensuing years of his life.29 Some of these songs, which alternately were written in English and Spanish, find their way into Cantos de adolescencia as glosses or as exact reprints. Finally, the Amrico Paredes Papers reveal Between Two Worlds to be an appropriate title for a selected works even though it is too incomplete to illustrate the poets simultaneous negotiations with multiple worlds of influences and interests. As Rafael Prez-Torres aptly notes: wandering two worlds Paredess poetry marks how Chicano culture could begin to move among four, perhaps five (1995, 271). Paredes search for a title for the collection that becomes Between Two Worlds is itself instructive of his contradictory and complex location at the geographic, linguistic, cultural, and ideological interstices. As noted, Paredes originally planned to revive Alma pocha as the title, but also considered Various Verse and Versos varios. When
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Introduction

his editor proposed The Four Freedoms (after a satyrical poem of the same title that critiques an imperialist speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941), Paredes quickly settles on a recommendation made by his colleague and fellow South Texas writer, Rolando Hinojosa, who had proposed Between Two Worlds, which is a gloss from Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), another Victorian English poet.30 Paredes original frontispiece, however, was a far more colorful invocation of book titles from publishing conventions of Early Modern Europe, the era that, ironically, was a major period of European imperialist expansion:
Collection of Various Verse from the Private Papers of Paredes (A.) being mainly A CADASTRE OF CANDID CADENCES Compiled for Cachination but also including songs around which were built Dreams or Destiny dreams that have died but which have left in passing A NIMBUS OF NOSTALGIA & This collection covers the period of my Life from Today back into time to YESTERDAY Therefore the collection should be read in the Oriental manner from the end backwards.

The last two lines suggest that this piece was imagined after his return from Japan in the 1950s. It also provides a refreshing instance of humor that characterizes Paredes later work, albeit
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

with an understated satyrical jab that becomes his hallmark in works like With His Pistol in His Hand. Finally, the archival existence of several proposed tables of contents for Paredes poetry collections ultimately reveal the interrelated nature of all his poetry; various poems appear, disappear and reappear throughout his initial planning stages and later attempts to reconstruct his own poetic legacy. This bilingual edition of Cantos de adolescencia thus is intended to help reconstruct the early period of Paredes poetry corpus for the purpose of enabling a fuller appreciation of a figure whose virtues as a poet extend before and beyond the verse collected in Between Two Worlds and his other more renowned works. Translating Paredes In his groundbreaking recovery and analysis of the epic heroic Mexican corrido about the early twentieth century ranchhand-cum-fugitive Gregorio Cortez, who is hunted down by the Texas Rangers for killing an Anglo-American sheriff in selfdefense, Paredes is careful to address the different versions of the event. He thus includes several variants of the same ballad. His role as a scholar and a cultural translator interested in sharing alternative accounts of historical events required that he acknowledge the many possible ways to present this particular octosyllabic sung verse text. Instead of settling on just one version, he presented all the versions he could find. As translators of Paredes first collection of poetry, however, we do not have the same luxury, since one of our goals is to present a coherent collection of verse that has its own integrity as poetry. Pursuant to this goal, we have had to make some very hard decisions on what we believe to be the best English version of his Spanish original. In this effort we have been guided by several discussion and debates in the field of translation studies. The precondition for any viable poetry translation is the recognition that literary translation is an art and a craft that cannot be successfully performed through the simple substitution of
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Introduction

words. All efforts at poetry translation demand that the translators conduct a close contextual reading of the poems in relation to the collection overall. Translators must have a sound appreciation of the poets overall corpus and biography. Above all else, the goal of most translators is to recompose the poem at hand so that it becomes a viable work of art in the new host language without losing its affiliation to the original. Indeed, the etymology of translation arises from the Latin root, translare, which means to carry out, or transport. That is, translation involves the careful transportation of words across languages. Even something as common and simple as a salutation like hello requires careful examination. In Italian, for example, ciao and pronto both can be used as greetings. But the latter one usually is confined to greetings over the telephone. Thus, the translator must be attuned to context as well. Susan Basnnett explains that languages are linguistic systems and the translators job is to be acquainted with the dynamics of such systems so the final product reflects as closely as possible the essence of the original text (16). In other words, a translators work should operate in similar or parallel ways in both linguistic systems. However, this does not necessarily mean that the connections and consequences of a particular line should match exactly. Every text has a unique integrity and a coherent symbolic system shaped by the author. The translators task is to understand and attempt to convey all the levels and amalgamations the author is displaying through an accurate equivalent that may or may not involve synonyms. For example, an original word may have a particular connotation in the original language that works parallel with the more superficial meaning but not the more important sublime ones. This is illustrated by the Spanish word brindar, which is the title of one of Paredes unpublished sonnets and also appears in several of his published poems. On the superficial level, brindar literally means, to toast. But it also connotes the meanings of to offer or to share. So, in order to maintain that essence the translator must scout the new host
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

language for an equivalent word (or words) that not only convey meaning on a superficial level, but also are able to carry out the original connotations as well. The translators diligence and proficiency notwithstanding, a translation always will be an approximation of the original; the best a translator can do is create a work that is as close to the original as possible without degenerating into a simplistic literal analogue devoid of any artistry in the new host language. Gregory Rabassa, the noted translator of Gabriel Garca Marquez English editions, points out that a translation can never equal the original; it can approach it, and its quality can only be judged as to accuracy by how close it gets (1). This position, in fact, falls squarely between some contemporary debates in the field of translation theory and practice. The twentieth century has been witness to two influential schools of literary translation. In the first half of the century, much of translation theory still relied heavily on the Victorian concepts of translation that revolved around literalness and archaizing. These types of translations emphasized the need to convey the remoteness of the original text. They sought to elevate it as a piece of beauty and therefore avoided deviations from the original structure and language. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow epitomized this school in his translation of Dante when he notes:
The only merit my book has is that it is exactly what Dante says, and not what the translator imagines he might have said if he had been an Englishman. In other words, while making it rhythmic, I have endeavoured to make it also as literal as a prose translation . . . In translating Dante, something must be relinquished. Shall it be the beautiful rhyme that blossoms all along the line like a honeysuckle on the hedge? It must be, in order to retain something more precious than rhyme, namely, fidelity, truththe life of the hedge itself . . . The business of a translator is to report what the author says, not to explain what he means; that is the work of a commentator. What an author says and how he says it, that is the problem of the translator.31
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Modern linguistics has placed this positivist literalist approach under greater scrutiny. Indeed, the relationship between translator and text is now readily recognized as being far more subjective and fluid. Towards the latter half of the century, translators explored other theoretical models, such as the figural approach. Linguistics gave translators new perspectives on how texts are transferred. According to Rabassa, the job of the translator is never done and that they must be alert to the various possibilities and meanings that transferring a single phrase or word entails. Rabassa lucidly notes: the translator can never be sure of himself, he must never be. He must always be dissatisfied with what he does because ideally, platonically, there is a perfect solution, but he will never find it. He can never enter into the authors being and even if he could the difference in languages would preclude any exact reproduction (12). Translators take more figural license in their search for an ever better but always already incomplete approximation. This inevitably means that theoretically there are multipleif not exponentialoptions available for each line. The most obvious subjective choice that we have made concerns the title. We have chosen to translate adolescencia as youth instead of the cognate adolescence, which has a more medical resonance. However, we use adolescence in specific parts of the Prologue when Paredes obviously intends to invoke this meaning, such as the third paragraph in which he discusses the psychological and biological aspects of adolescence. Here, he describes adolescencia in terms of a physical phenomenon, that is, a stage in ones biological and social life. However, we chose youth for the title because it still enables an allusion to the medical significance as well as the existentialist resonance of the collection overall. Moreover, the collection ends with a poem celebrating his twenty-first birthday, which falls outside adolescence and more into young adulthood.
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

In this context, Amrico Paredes adolescent and young adult poetry has presented various challenges to us as translators and poets. First, it was imperative that we become acquainted with the authors life and education because it directly and indirectly informed his burgeoning ars poetica. The collection displays an incredible array of themesmusic, politics, identity, romance, and other concerns. Moreover, as noted above, Paredes oftentimes placed himself at the intersection of competing discourses, genres, and traditions. This complex biographical history has had a profound impact in our attempts to transport the meaning of fundamental interrelated words and tropes in his poetic corpus. This is particularly the case with interrelated terms such as pueblo (town), patria (homeland/country), tierra (land), suelo (earth/floor/land), and pas (country). For instance, in his poem Mxico, la ilusin del continente, Paredes uses pueblo not to refer to a town, which is the literal meaning, but to identify his Mexican and Mexican-American people (e.g.,Viendo la huella que sangrienta traza / mi pueblo, que se arroja hacia el arcano, lines 9-10). Therefore, we translated the lines as: Looking at the bloody footprints that trace / my people, who throw themselves towards the arcane. On the other hand, in the poem A Mexico, he remarks: Yo te cant desde muy nio; / amor por tu suelo muy joven sent; / mi primera poesa en nuestra lengua/ fue patria, para ti (lines 1-4). In this poem, patria clearly displays a psychological and social bond that goes beyond the simple and literal translation of country. Here it is closer to signifying homeland, but it also connotes the pueblo as well. Furthermore, the word patria carries a female gender in Spanish, which enables him to connote a maternal bond to the land itself, further alluding to the signified human subject of pueblo. Yet, it would be inaccurate to translate patria as my people because the poem, from the title to the last line, is a song to a national entity. Therefore, here we translated the term as homeland even though this term cannot portray the literal meaning of the word, motherland, which is
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Introduction

awkward and virtually unused in English due to the neutered valence of English language nouns. In summary, even though we believe our use of homeland to be the most accurate and salient version possible in English, we recognize that major connotations available in Spanish are lost. In yet other translations we used an alternative genderspecific term because the context required it. For example, in the poem Guadalupe la Chinaca, Paredes once again utilizes patria as homeland, but in this case, he exploits the Spanish gender of the word qualifying patria as a long-living one, perhaps even an old woman: Parece ser el canto de mi vieja / patria herida (lines 8-9). In this instance, our final transported choice is much easier. We chose motherland, so that the translated line reads: It appears to be the song of my old / wounded motherland. Finally, the word pas, which is commonly translated as country, presents an interesting scenario for its meaning in his poem Hymno. Here, the meaning is close to both motherland and homeland: Canten, ros, alegres y movidos; / canten, vientos, que mueven el maz. / Canten todos, en un cantar unidos, / la beldad de mi pas (lines 3-6). However, Paredes poem asks the reader to draw a mental picture of a land. Consequently, in this case the term has a geographical tint. When placed in context, the word does not invoke any sentimental or maternal bonds as motherland does, and it does not reflect the patriotic feel homeland does. Therefore, the meaning results in land, which was our choice. The English version thus reads: Sing, rivers, moving and merry; / sing, winds, that move the cornfield. / Sing all, in a song of unity, / the beauty of my land. The above examples are only a few of the many instances in which apparently simple signifiers and synonyms ultimately involved complex and irregular translations so the English versions were coherent and virtuous in their own right. Several other related gender issues permeate Paredes collection at the linguistic level. First Paredes maintains a male default all throughout. As Olgun (2005) has noted, Paredes
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Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

verse is inscribed with masculinist discourses. Paredes is quite careful and deliberate in his gendered use of words, which Spanish, a Romance language, facilitates. For instance, in his poem Rima (XII), Paredes refers to God as nio cruel. The Spanish language has standardized the male gender as universal, so when the expression nios are used, the reader automatically assumes it includes males and females. However, in the context of this poem, it would be safe to assume a male diety, and therefore we translate the icon as: Cruel child. This does not imply that God is automatically male throughout his collection. When Paredes needs to assign a female gender to a deity or person of royal or exalted status, he does not hesitate. In his poem Oracin, for instance, he refers to the deity as diosa (goddess) and sultana (sultanness). Paredes is methodical and precise when choosing genders and as translators we sought to respect such assignations because they ultimately illuminate the contours of his gendered discourses. Another challenging aspect of Paredes poetics arises from his use of colloquialisms that are largely based on a rural south Texas idiom and vernacular phonetic orthographic practices. Following the figural school of translation, we decided to approximate the feel of colloquial phrases and words instead of attempting to present literal translations, which in some cases would have been grossly different from the original Spanish signifier. We did so in a variety of ways. Instead of losing the colloquial diction, we took our cue from Paredes own English colloquial poems. In some cases, the language in poems from Between Two Worlds was instructive. For instance, in poems such as The Mexico-Texan, the poet mimics borderland colloquialisms in various types of Spanglish that give us a model of how his dated Tex-Mex idiom might have sounded. This became an issue in poems such as No Sias Creido, which in standard Spanish would read No seas creido. The correct translation of the title would be Dont Be Conceited. But in order to capture the oral colloquialism alluded to in the vernacular spelling,
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Introduction

we translated the title as Don be conceited. Paredes not only displays colloquialisms, but neologisms and vernacular spellings as well. For instance, in his poem Rima (VII) he introduces the word blondos cabellos referring to his beloveds blonde hairs. However, rubio is the more common Spanish term for blond. Yet another instance of vernacular or archaic spellings occurs in his poem Ojos tristes, in which Paredes writes: Corasn, todo le distes, . . . mira el mal que me ficistes (lines 4,12). The standard spellings would be: diste, corazn, and hiciste. On the one hand, Chicana/o Spanish oftentimes transposes spellings so that diste becomes dites; thus Paredes use falls in-between the vernacular and the standard. On the other hand, he uses an f for an h, which is a convention from archaic spellings that did not affect the pronunciation of the h sound. As we encountered Paredes colloquialisms as well as vernacular terms and spellings, we took great care not to take inordinate liberties for fear of deviating too far from the original. However, in some cases we did deviate from literal translations in order to preserve the rhyme scheme when this was an obvious and important aspect of a poem. In other cases, however, we had no acceptable option for maintaining the original essence except by leaving particular words in their original Spanish. For example, in his poem Canciones, he lists various Latin American songs that have come to be known worldwide by their original name such as rumbas, corridos, and sones. (We have provided descriptions and definitions of these forms and genres in the annotations following relevant poems.) So, by keeping their Spanish names, the musicality is not altered. We are guided in this practice by Wendy Barkers discussion of a similar translation problem she encountered with the Bengali word sari, which refers to a distinct, though commonly known, item of clothing in South Asia. In her co-authored translation of Rabindranath Tagores final poems with Saranindranath Tagore (a descendent of the poet), they chose to keep the word sari in its original lanlii

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

guage not only because it had no equivalent in English, but because it was both recognizeable even as it signaled the foreign cultural context. However, they chose to translate the ghomt, the part of the sari that young girls pull over their head like a hood, with extended descriptions in English. That is, they found a middle ground between keeping the recognizably foreign term in its original language while translating terms that were too idiosyncratic for readers in the United States (xviii). We followed suit. One of the biggest challenges we faced in translating Paredes verse appeared at the poetrys most basic levelsits structurewhich butts up against its content. At the very young age in which Paredes writes this collection, he already is experimenting with ideas and discourses that he explores later in his more famous works. As he himself noted, this was a moment of metamorphosis. But among these precocious instances of early brilliance, Paredes also reveals his immaturity as a writer. In other words, his command of the language at this stage in his writing career is sometimes lacking. His poetry reveals major conflicts in three major areas: grammar, rhythm, and rhyme. Paredes grammar is influenced by several currents including the Spanish Golden Age poets, as well as the Greek Classics and his regional Mexican-American lingo. This poses obvious problems: all throughout the collection, Paredes attempts to reconcile a high Spanish rhetoric with the more popular Tex-Mex idiom. Given that some poems were composed when Paredes was still in his teens and still forming as a poet and cultural worker, the reconciliation is not always successful. In many occasions, his rhetoric wanders astray from an initial high rhetoric into a convoluted and even pretentious diction, which sometimes is paired with vernacular syntax and idioms. This is not to say that vernacular idioms are not complex enough to carry complex ideas. On the contrary. The dissonance arises because the fusion of vernacular South Texas anti-imperialist and existentialist angst sometimes involves elite tone and word
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choice. In all fairness to Paredes, it must be noted that this tension almost is unavoidable: it arises as a function of his attempt to explore a unique and challenging array of complex ideas in folk speech and, on the other hand, folk sensibilities in formal poetic diction and syntax. This issue of diction is further complicated by his attempt to mimic the highly formal forms of Spanish and British Renaissance poetry. Furthermore, even though he claims in his prologue that the majority of the grammatical errors were corrected, Paredes is constantly convoluting his poetry by switching or misspelling tenses. Moreover, for the sake of the aforementioned attempt of a higher order of political and existentialist rhetoric, he leaves out pronouns or articles. This in turn, makes it harder to link a particular description to its origin or identify a metaphors tenor and vehicle in some poems. A minor though no less significant feature of Paredes early verse is his irregular use of spacing and indentation. At some points, Paredes does so with no clear logic. For instance, he splits a particular idea in an attempt to force the reader to continue his reading. It is as though he attempts an interstanza enjambment, but instead of increasing the crescendo of the poem, he brakes its rhythm. A similar issue arises from his irregular use of indentation. As with his use of spacing, his indentation practices certainly achieve their caesura goals, but at other times Paredes leads his audience into unnecessary pauses or forced (and false) starts of particular ideas. Capitalization proved to be another constant irregularity in his verse. Throughout the text, it appears as if Paredes abides more to the visual aesthetics of the poem on the page and omits standard capitalization. For the translation, we not only have given the collection a new language, but have attempted to standardize some of these uses based on contemporary publishing conventions. Another troubling aspect of the collection concerned Paredes rhyme and rhythm. All throughout the collection, Paredes maintains two rhyme schemes. This includes alternating rhymed lines abab cdcd and also the schema of the Italian, or Petrarliv

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937)

chan, Sonnet form, which is distinguished by the octave rhyming abba abba and the sestet cdecde, cdcdcd, or cdedce. At other instances, Paredes is unable to follow through with these models throughout the entire poem even though this obviously was his intent. That is, it is clear that in some instances he attempts to follow a particular scheme, but midway is unable to find the right word or the rhyme and thus decides to degenerate into free verse. In the translation, however, we have taken the liberty of trying to preserve Paredes intended rhyme schemes even when he himself fails to do so. In other cases, we break his original rhyme schemes in favor of alliteration when the sound works better in English. As far as his rhythm is concerned, Paredes finds a second voice in music, which enhances his poetic rhythm. The musicality of the collection is arguably one of its chief virtues, but it also presented us with another challenge: whether to maintain his rhyme or aim towards the preservation of rhythm. Since Paredes is continually referring to the music in his life indeed, he was an accomplished pianist and guitaristit seemed appropriate to approximate the music of each poem by either rhyme, rhythm or both, whatever was required in English. Therefore, at times, the translated rhymes are not as close, but we have tried to combine the best of both worlds by approximating rhymes, using alliteration and maintaining the poetrys original musical tone and rhythm. Overall, Paredes grammar, rhythm and rhyme, illustrate his incredible talent and maturity for a teenager, but they also reveal the early stage of a writer trying to polish his creative writing skills, which a mature writer attends to through a constant revision process. Paredes poetry also reflects musical rhythms, sounds and behavior. For example, the section entitled La msica presents an array of song-like structures. The section acts as a musical survey containing a corrido, a ballad and even a rumba. Moreover, Paredes, who was an accomplished musicologist and anthropologist and also a trained folklorist and classicist as well
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as a renowned guitar and piano virtuoso, permeates his poetry with Neo-classical images, structures and allusions. For instance, in the aforementioned poem, Fbula, the presence of a tight meter and rhyme along the Classical images of satyrs and fauns displays a broad range of interests and influences. Throughout the collection, Paredes maintains a particular tempo with his rhymes and rhythms. Therefore, when confronted with the structure and patterns of a song such as his Rima poems, we chose the compactness and precision of words even if this sometimes required the use of broad analogies. In these music poems, it ultimately was impossible to achieve a literal translation since there were no equivalent words in English. As Rabassa notes, no single word can exist in two languages. Even cognates denote and connote different meanings. They are mere synonyms and each are independent entities. In many cases especially the song titleswe followed Barker and Tagores two-pronged compromise. Our very act of translating Paredes also involved an examination of Paredes own translations of Donne and Lord Tennyson as well as his translations of dcimas. As we analyzed Paredes Spanish translations of Donnes Song to Celia and Tennysons Crossing the Bar, it became clear that he begins his process with a literal approach, but as the artistry and poetics proceed, Paredes turns to a more figural approach. He never loses track of its origin even as he cannot always rely on synonyms. As such, Paredes provides us with a model of how he himself viewed the art and craft of translating, which we have sought to emulate. His own translation of Ro Bravo collected in Between Two Worlds re-enforced this idea and allowed us to combine the best of both schools of translation theory and practice. Following Paredess own model, we took liberties with tense, syntax, and vocabulary, and only explain the more significant changes in footnotes to provide our rationale and to allow the reader to consider the many alternate options that are always
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available in poetry translations. As noted above, our more controversial translation choices oftentimes are done to preserve the rhyme scheme that Paredes obviously intended to be the central formal feature of the poem. At other times, the changes were undertaken to emphasize the tone or central theme of the composition. Finally, we must note that in the process of translating Cantos de adolescencia, we have come to appreciate it as a remarkable feat of poetry for a teenager and young adult. Indeed, Paredes inaugural collection of poetry not only pressages Paredes later greatness, but it heralds it with clever rhymes, sharp accomplished tempos, and lucid expressions of pathos. With full respect and admiration of the original author, we hope to have produced an accurate and pleasing transportation of Cantos de adolescencia into English. Any failures in this endeavor are ours; all successes belong to Amrico Paredes Manzano. B.V. Olgun Omar Vsquez Barbosa San Antonio & Barcelona 2005 Notes
1We

use Mexican American as a descriptive term to refer to the population of Mexican descent living in the United States from the end of the U.S.Mexico War in 1848 to the 1960s. The terms Chicana and Chicano, or Chicana/o, which deliberately invoke an anticolonialist indigenous genealogy for Mexican Americans, refer to the post-1960s MexicanAmerican population. Our references to Mexican-American and Chicana/o literature correspond to these distinctions. 2Paredes was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944 and served until 1946. He was assigned to work as a political reporter for the U.S. Army Newspaper Stars and Stripes, and subsequently covered the war crimes tribunals in Japan. 3For studies of Paredes contribution to Chicana/o cultural studies, see Jos Limn (1992, 1994); Ramn Saldvar (1990, 2006); Jos David Saldvar (1997, 2000); Sonia Saldvar-Hull (2000), Leticia Garza-Falcn (1998); Louis Mendoza (2001); and Olgun (2005). lvii

Introduction
4For

studies of Paredes poetry, see Ramn Saldvar (1993, 1995); Jos David Saldvar (1997); Limn (1992); Rafael Prez-Torres (1995). In addition, Ramn Saldvar devotes an entire chapter on Paredes poetry in his intellectual biography of Paredes that was published after this translation went to press (2006). 5For a discussion of Paredes hybrid poetics, see Jos David Saldvar (1997) and also Prez-Torres (1995). For a discussion of the complex spatial ontology of Paredes short stories characters, see Ramn Saldvar (1994). 6The poem Alma pocha originally was written in 1936 as a sonnet titled El pocho. According to Paredes, it was composed as a response to a call by Texas government officials to commemorate the Texas Centennial Celebration. However, La Prensa (San Antonio), which had published several of his poems, declined to publish it due to its satirical tone and materialist critique of the dispossession of the Mexican-American population. The poem ultimately was published by Chicano poet Alurista and the co-editors of the anthology Flor y Canto II: An Anthology of Chicano Poetry (1975), and later reprinted in the journal Maize (1977). The expanded version, Alma pocha, is included in Between Two Worlds. For further discussion of the genealogy of this poem, see Between Two Worlds, footnote 4; and also Paredes preface to his aborted collection Various Verse, which he titles To the Small Group of Compaeros for Whom this Collection is Intended, in the Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 17, Folder 5. The two versions of this poem are included in the Addenda. 7Paredes historical novel George Washington Gmez was begun in 1936 and completed in 1940. It was not published until 1990 by Arte Pblico Press. 8See typed log entry for Monday, April 16, 1979. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. 9Ibid. In the Introduction to Between Two Worlds Paredes discusses the destruction of some of his poetry. Nicols Kanellos verifies this incident as do the Amrico Paredes Papers, which include sample tables of contents listing poems that are now lost. 10This is the verbatim goal that prefaces all project publications. For an overview of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, see Kanellos (1993) and also Ramn A. Gutirrez and Gnaro Padilla (1993). 11Some contemporary Chicana/o oral bards are San Antonio-based Angela De Hoyos and Nephtali De Len, both of whom are renowned for their ability to spontaneously produce declamatory poems for a variety of occasions. 12El Mxico-Texano, La Voz (Brownsville, Texas), August 31, 1941. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1. In the footnote to the version reprinted in Between Two Worlds, Paredes provides a historiography of the poem: lviii

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937) Perhaps the best known of my efforts at versifying. The first version was done in Spring 1934, when I was a senior in high school. Composed while walking the 21 blocks home from school one afternoon and written downwith revisionsshortly afterward. This second, written version became current in manuscript form in south Texas, was used in political campaigns, was reprinted a few times as anonymous, and entered oral tradition locally. Collected in Brownsville as folk poetry in the 1960s by a student of one of my colleagues, Roger D. Abrahams. When it began to circulate in manuscript, writer Hart Stilwell criticized the language as sounding too much like the state Italian dialect of the time. I made revisions and it is this third version, done in 1935, that appears here. (139) 13The Mexico-Texan, periodical unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1. 14The Mexico-Texan, Brownsville Herald, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1. 15The other two known copies of Cantos de adolescencia are housed in the American History Library at UT Austin. All three copies are slightly damaged, with one missing a frontispiece photo of Paredes. 16In a letter to Arte Pblico Press Director Nicols Kanellos dated June 23, 1989, Paredes asks Kanellos to remove the poem at the urging of his wife. She was uncomfortable with the morbid farewell tone of the poem, in which Paredes asks to be cremated. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 18, Folder 3. 17Ibid. 18The Amrico Paredes Papers contain poems from many of these figures. Paredes also identifies the writing circle members in a letter to Manuel Cruz, a newcomer to the group, dated January 7, 1943. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6. Elsewhere, Paredes recalls that his then-student Jos Limn borrowed some of these primary materials for a planned study on this network of South Texas writers, which was never completed. 19We briefly discuss the dcima form in the annotations in the collection. For a more thorough treatment of this Mexican folk form, see Paredes and Foss (1968). 20See untitled English-language log in the Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. 21Ibid. 22For a general discussion of Chicana/o cultural nationalist poetry, see PrezTorres (1995) and Cordelia Chvez Candelaria (1986). 23For an introductory periodization of Mexican-American literature, see Raymond Paredes (1993). For an incisive critique of the generational paradigm, see Mendoza (2001). lix

Introduction
24Paredess

draft of a short story River Man, which was never published, originally was outlined on U.S. Army stationary. This story idea includes a sketch of the terrain map for the setting drawn on paper stamped Armed Forces Information Division, Information & Education Detachment. See Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 2. 25This log is located in the Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. For a discussion of African American signifying, see Gates (1987). For a discussion of the related Latin American and U.S. Latina/o permutations known as cbula and choteo, see Jos David Saldvar (2000). 26According to Paredes, the drawing was done by Salom McAllen Scanlan, whom Paredes identifies as a teacher and good family friend who also was his supervisor when he was a student assistant in junior college. 27See log, Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. 28See log, Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 18. Some song lyrics and musical scores are included in Paredes improvised songbooks and some are loose. 29See log, Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. 30See extended correspondence between Hinojosa, Paredes, and Kanellos, Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 18, Folder 3. 31Cited in Bassnett 1996, p.70.

Works Cited
Arnold C. Vento, Alurista, and Jos Flores Peregrino, eds. Flor y Canto II: An Anthology of Chicano Poetry. Austin: Pajarito Publications, 1975. Anzalda, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute, 1987. Arteaga, Alfred. An Other Tongue. An Other Tongue: Nation and Ethnicity in the Linguistic Borderlands. Ed. Alfred Arteaga. Durham: Duke UP, 1994. 9-33. Barker, Wendy. Preface. Rabindranath Tagore: Final Poems. Trans. Wendy Barker and Saranindranath Tagore, New York: George Brazillier, 2001. xi-xxvii. Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. Revised Edition. New York: Routledge, 1996. Bhabha, Homi K. Of Mimicry and Men: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse. October 28 (1984): 125-33. Caldern, Hctor and Jos Rsbel Lpez-Morn. Interview with Amrico Paredes. Nepantla: Views from South 1:1 (2000): 197-228. Candelaria, Cordelia. Chicano Poetry: A Critical Introduction. Wesport: Greenwood P, 1986. Chabram-Dernersesian, Angie. I Throw Punches for My Race, But I Dont Want to Be a Man: Writing UsChica-nos (Girl, Us) / Chicanasinto lx

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937) the Movement Script. Cultural Studies. Eds. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula A. Treichler. New York: Routledge, 1992. 8195. De Hoyos, Angela. Chicano Poems for the Barrio. Bloomington: Backstage Books, 1975. . Arise, Chicano, and Other Poems. San Antonio: M&A Editions, 1975. De Len, Nephtal. Chicanos: Our Background and Out Pride. Lubbock: Trucha Publications, 1972. Gates, Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford UP, 1987. Gutirrez, Ramn, and Genaro Padilla. Introduction. Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage. Eds. Ramn Gutirrez and Genaro Padilla. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1993. 17-25. Herrera-Sobek, Maria. Nation, Nationality, and Nationalism: Amrico Paredes Paradigms of Self and Country. Conference Presentation, Pas Por Aqu: An Amrico Paredes Symposium, University of Texas at Austin, May 3, 2001. Kanellos, Nicols. Foreword. Gutirrez and Padilla 13-5. Limn, Jos E. American Encounters: Greater Mexico, The United States, and the Erotics of Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. . Amrico Paredes: A Man from the Border. Revista ChicanoRiquea 8:3 (Summer 1980): 1-5. . Dancing with the Devil: Society and Cultural Poetics in Mexican American South Texas. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1994. . Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems: History and Influence in Mexican-American Social Poetry. Berkeley: U of California P, 1992. Medrano, Manuel, Dir. Amrico Paredes: Pas Por Aqu. Prod. U of Texas at Brownsville, 2001. Mendoza, Louis Gerard. Historia: The Literary Making of Chicana and Chicano History. College Station: Texas A&M P, 2001. Olgun, B.V. Reassessing Pocho Poetics: Amrico Paredes Poetry and the (Trans)National Question. Aztln 30:1 (Spring 2004): 87-121. Paredes, Amrico. Cantos de adolescencia. San Antonio: Librera Espaola, 1937. . Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexico Border. Austin: U Texas P, 1993. . The Hammon and the Beans and Other Stories. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1994. . Ichiro Kikuchi. The Hammon and the Beans, And Other Stories. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1994. 151-9. lxi

Introduction . Letter to Alurista. October 19, 1974. Nettie Benson Latin American Library Special Collections. Amrico Paredes Papers. Box 57, Folder 7. . Letter to Rolando Hinojosa. May 30, 1980. Nettie Benson Latin American Library Special Collections. Amrico Paredes Papers. Box 64, Folder 2. . El Pocho. Nettie Benson Latin American Library Special Collections. Amrico Paredes Papers. Box 57, Folder 7. . Prologue. Between Two Worlds. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1991. 9-11. . A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border. Austin: U Texas P, 1995. . With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1958. , and George Foss. The Dcima on the Texas-Mexican Border. Austin: Institute of Latin American Studies Offprint Series, 1968. Paredes, Raymund. Mexican-American Literature: An Overview. Gutirrez and Padilla 31-51. Paz, Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico. Trans. Lysander Kemp. New York: Grove Press, 1961. Prez-Torres, Rafael. Movements in Chicano Poetry: Against Myths, Against Margins. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995. Rabassa, Gregory. No Two Snowflakes Are Alike: Translation as Metaphor. The Craft of Translation. Eds. John Biguenet and Rainer Schulte. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1989. 1-12. Saldvar, Jos David. Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies. Berkeley: U of California P, 1997. . The Dialectics of Our America: Genealogy, Cultural Critique, and Literary History. Durham: Duke UP, 1991. . The Location of Amrico Paredess Border Thinking. Nepantla: Views from the South 1:1 (2000): 191-95. . Looking Awry at 1898: Roosevelt, Montejo, Paredes, and Mariscal. American Literary History 12:3 (2000): 387-406. Saldvar, Ramn. Amrico Paredes. Updating the Literary West. Ed. Thomas J. Lyon. Fort Worth: Texas Christian UP, 1997. 633-37. . Amrico Paredes and the Transnational Imaginary. Brackenridge Distinguished Lecture, University of Texas at San Antonio, February 22, 2001. . Bordering on Modernity: Amrico Paredes Between Two Worlds and the Imagining of Utopian Social Space. Stanford Humanities Review 3:1 (Winter 1993): 54-66. lxii

Cantos de adolescencia / Songs of Youth (1932-1937) . The Borders of Modernity: Amrico Paredess Between Two Worlds and the Chicano National Subject. Ed. David Palumbo-Liu. The Ethnic Canon: Histories, Institutions, and Interventions. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1995. 71-87. . The Borderlands of Culture: Amrico Paredes and the Transnational Imaginary. Durham: Duke UP, 2006. . Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. Madison: Wisconsin U of Wisconsin P, 1990. . Introduction. The Hammon and the Beans and Other Stories. Amrico Paredes. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1994. vii-li. Saldvar-Hull, Sonia. Feminism on the Border: Chicana Gender Politics and Literature. U of California P, 2000. Suarez, Mario. Kid Zopilote. Arizona Quarterly 3 (Summer 1947): 112-37. Venegas, Daniel. The Adventures of Don Chipote, or, When Parrots BreastFeed. Trans. Ethriam Cash Brammer. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 2000. Ybarra-Frausto, Toms. The Chicano Movement and the Emergence of Chicano Poetic Consciousness. New Directions in Chicano Scholarship. Eds. Ricardo Romo and Raymund Paredes. La Jolla: University of California at San Diego, Chicano Studies Program, 1978. 81-110. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 1984.

lxiii

Figure 1. Handwritten limerick by Paredes, circa 1940. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19. Courtesy of the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.

Figure 2. Cover to original edition of Cantos de adolescencia (San Antonio, 1937). Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 11, Folder 4.

Figure 3. Original advertisement for Cantos de adolescencia, periodical and date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 4. Announcement for poetry reading by Amrico Paredes Manzano. Brownsville Herald, circa 1930s. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 5. Award announcement, periodical unknown, circa 1930s. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 6. Correspondence from G.W. Gotke, Superintendent, Brownsville Independent School District, April 22, 1932. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 6, Folder 1.

Figure 7. Award announcement, Brownsville Herald, May 1, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 8. Award announcement, La Prensa de San Antonio, April 29, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 9. Award announcement, Valley Morning Star, May 3, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 10. Correspondence from E.D. Dodd, Superintendent, Brownsville Public Schools, May 9, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 6, Folder 1.

Figure 11. Correspondence from J.W. Irvine, Dean, Brownsville Junior College, May 14, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 6, Folder 1.

Figure 12. Correspondence from Catharine Donnel, Secretary, Scriptcrafters Club, Trinity University, April 30, 1934. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 18, Folder 8.

Figure 13. Award announcement, Brownsville Herald, April 1935. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 14. Award announcement, Brownsville Herald, September 6, 1937. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 15. Award announcement, periodical unknown, circa late 1930s. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 16. Two-page pull-out feature of Cantos de adolescencia in La Prensa de San Antonio, October 18, 1937. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 17. Original version of poem, Guadalupe la Chinaca. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 18. Concert poster for performance by Guadalupe la Chinaca with verse excerpt from poem of same name, circa 1945. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 19. Original version of poem, New Years Eve, periodical unknown, circa 1930s. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 20. Facsimile of Spanish version of El Mexico-Texano, La Voz (Brownsville, Texas), August 31, 1941. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 21. Facsimile of reprint of poem, The Mexico-Texan, periodical and date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 22. Facsimile of reprint of poem, The Mexico-Texan, Brownsville Herald, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 23. Correspondence from Gregorio Garza Flores, Director, El Regional (Matamoros, Taumalipas, Mexico), August 25, 1937. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 8, Folder 8.

Figure 24. Correspondence from Carlos E. Castaeda, Librarian, University of Texas Library, October 25, 1937. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 8, Folder 8.

Figure 25. Correspondence from J.H. Welch, Editor, Texas Farming and Citriculture, May 7, 1938. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 8, Folder 8.

Figure 26. Correspondence from Marcelle Lively Hamer, Librarian, Mirabeau Lamar Library, University of Texas at Austin, July 30, 1941. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 8, Folder 8.

Figure 27. Leather jacket for Cantos de adolescencia awarded by The Arizona Quarterly, circa 1937. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 11, Folder 5.

Figure 28. Frontispiece photo and prologue from original edition of Cantos de adolescencia. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 11, Folder 4.

Figure 29. Photograph of Paredes as a child and sister Blanca on the occasion of Blancas first communion. Date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Special Photograph Box.

Figure 30. Facsimile of dcima dedicated to Paredes from Gonzalo Casas Gutirrez, June 14, 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 3.

Figure 31. Facsimile of poem dedicated to Paredes from cousin Juventino Paredes, date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 4.

Figure 32. Facsimile of poem, Godless Flowers, by relative Mariano Manzano, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 3.

Figure 33. Facsimile of poem, New Moon, by Mariano Manzano, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 3.

Figure 34. Facsimile of poem, Mi pueblo de amanecer, by Amrico Paredes dedicated to Sabas Klahn, May, 1938. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 1.

Figure 35. Facsimile of poem, La odalisca, by Manuel Cruz dedicated to Amrico Paredes Manzano, circa 1940. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 36. Facsimile of poem, A un purito mexicano, by Manuel Cruz dedicated to Amrico Paredes, circa 1940. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 37. Facsimile of correspondence from Amrico Paredes to Manuel Cruz, February 26, 1943. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 38. Facsimile of correspondence from Amrico Paredes to Manuel Cruz with poem, Brindis, dedicated to Cruz, January 7, 1943. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 39. Facsimile of poem, Pasatiempo lrico, by Manuel Cruz dedicated to Amrico Paredes, January 2, 1944. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 40. Facsimile of poem, Au revoir, by Manuel Cruz dedicated to Amrico Paredes, circa 1945. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 41. Facsimile of poem, El poeta, by Manuel Cruz dedicated to Amrico Paredes by Manuel Cruz, January 12, 1945. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 42. Facsimile of first draft of Amrico Paredes Prologue to Romanso azul by Manuel Cruz, May 24, 1944. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 43. Facsimile of correspondence from Amrico Paredes to his wife Amelia, with gloss of Manuel Cruz poem, April 28, 1948. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 1, Folder 1.

Figure 44. Facsimile of correspondence from Amrico Paredes to his wife Amelia, with gloss of Manuel Cruz poem, February 8, 1948. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 1, Folder 1.

Figure 45. Facsimile of dcima by cousin Rubn Paredes Cant dedicated to Amrico Paredes, June 11, 1982. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 6.

Figure 46. Facsimile of lyrics and musical score for Tarde de otoo, by Amrico Paredes, date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 5, Folder 12.

Figure 47. Facsimile of musical score for Flor de burdel, by Amrico Paredes, date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 78, Folder 8.

Figure 48. Facsimile of lyrics for Flor de burdel, by Amrico Paredes, date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 78, Folder 8.

Figure 49. Facsimile of handwritten note by Amrico Paredes, no date. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 17.

Figure 50. Facsimile of handwritten note by Amrico Paredes, no date. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 17.

Figure 51. Facsimile of handwritten lyric, Shina No Yoru, in phonetic Japanese by Amrico Paredes, circa 1950. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 4.

Figure 52. Facsimile of handwritten lyric, Ringo No Uta, in phonetic Japanese by Amrico Paredes, circa 1950. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 4.

Figure 53. Facsimile of handwritten lyric, Kojo No Tsuki, in phonetic Japanese by Amrico Paredes, circa 1950. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 12, Folder 4.

Figure 54. Facsimile of cover for Black Roses by Amrico Paredes, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 18.

Figure 55. Facsimile of frontispiece for Black Roses by Amrico Paredes, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 18.

Figure 56. Facsimile of epigraph for Black Roses, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 18.

Figure 57. Facsimile of illustration for Black Roses, circa 1936. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 18.

Figure 58. Facsimile of fist page in expanded table of contents for Cantos a Carolina (1934-1946) by Amrico Paredes, date unknown. Amrico Paredes Papers, Box 7, Folder 19.

Cantos de adolescencia Songs of Youth

(1932-1937)

Prlogo
Los versos que en en este libro se encierran no son solamente el diario de un adolescente. Son el diario de un adolescente mxico-texano. Adolescente! Fenmeno fsico causado por la proximidad de dos edades; individuo que no es nio ni es adulto. Mxicotexano! Fenmeno sociolgico, planta de tiesto, hombre sin terruo propio y verdadero, que no es ni mexicano ni yanqui. Los aos desde 1930 hasta 1936 forman una etapa de transicin en mi vida son los aos ciegos y desequilibrados de metamrfosis. Es el tiempo en que se siente la primera pasin y la primera flama del amor patrio. Es la edad en que se persiguen muchas mujeres y muchos ideales. Es el tiempo en que en el pensamiento se entabla una lucha entre la horda de ideas en embrin que all habitan lucha por conseguir un lugar definido y permanente en la conciencia del individuo. El nio conoci amores pero fueron inspidos. Se sinti un momento netamente mexicano y al otro puro yanqui. Pero con la adolescencia llega el tiempo de las decisiones. Estas pginas son el resultado de esta lucha en el tiempo de decisin. Comenc a escribir verso desde la edad de quince aos pero mis obras fueron todas en ingls. Mis versos en espaol no comienzan hasta en 1932, dos aos despus. Esto se debe a la influencia de una escuela en ingls y de muy pocos libros en la lengua de Cervantes. En verdad, todava me siento ms seguro de m mismo en la lengua de Shakespeare que en la ma. Por eso encontrar el lector en mis versos errores de
3

gramtica. Pero no crea l que estn all por falta de cuidado. La mayor parte de ellos ya fueron corregidos. Los que quedan fueron dejados al propsito, porque en mi concepto, no se pueden remover. As en aquellas palabras sent lo que quera decir. Decirlo de otra manera fuera no decirlo. Mi primer verso fue a Mxico. Desde se hasta el ltimo soneto se extiende esta coleccin ambiciosa que quise que fuera ms de lo que es. Mi coleccin en ingls la cerr con la resolucin de ya no escribir ms verso en la lengua sajona. Pero estos Cantos de adolescencia los cierro con grandes esperanzas. Otros versos seguirn: ojal ms artsticos y ms sentidos y con ms conocimiento y facilidad en la lengua que llamo ma. Amrico Paredes Manzano

Prologue1
The verses that are enclosed in this book are not only the diary of an adolescent. They are the diary of a Mexico-Texan adolescent. Adolescent! Physical phenomenon caused by the proximity of two ages; an individual who is neither a boy nor an adult. Mexico-Texan! Sociological phenomenon, potted plant, man without his own true land, who is neither Mexican nor Yankee. The years from 1930 to 1936 form a transition stage in my lifethey are the blind and unbalanced years of metamorphosis. It is the time when one experiences the first passion and the first flame of patriotic love. It is the time when one pursues many women and many ideals. It is the time when the mind sets a struggle between the herd of unborn ideas that reside there a struggle to find a defined and permanent place in the conscience of the individual. The boy knew lovesbut they were insipid. One moment he felt truly Mexican and at another purely Yankee. But with adolescence comes the time for decisions. These pages are the result of this fight in the age of decision. I started writing verse at the age of fifteen but my works were all in English. My verses in Spanish do not begin until 1932, two years later. This is due to the influence of an English school and very few books in the language of Cervantes. In truth, I still feel more comfortable with myself in the language of Shakespeare than in my own. That is why the reader will find grammar errors in my verses. But one should not think that they are there for lack of care. The majority of them already were corrected. The
5

ones that remain were left on purpose, because in my mind, they cannot be removed. Thereforein those words I felt what I wanted to say. To say it differently would be to not say it. My first verse was to Mexico. From that one to the last sonnet I offer this ambitious collection, which I wish would be more than it is. I closed my English collection I closed with the resolution of never writing more verse in the Saxon language. But I close these Songs of Youth with great expectations. Other verses will follow: hopefully more artistic and more heartfelt and with more knowledge and ease in the language I call my own. Amrico Paredes Manzano

La lira patritica The Patriotic Lyre2

A Mxico
Yo te cant desde muy nio; amor por tu suelo muy joven sent; mi primera poesa en nuestra lengua fu, patria, para ti. Yo te he visto por las pginas de historia cada y angustiada no vencida! Has pasado por el crimen y la gloria: heroica, sacrosanta y fratricida. Te baa con tu sangre el insurrecto, te vende el estadista por dinero . . . Conozco bien, mi patria, tus defectos y porque los conozco, yo te quiero. Cuando s que das un paso hacia delante mi corazn en tierra extraa se engrandece; y si tus hijos te hieren por la espalda, como si a l le hirieran . . . se estremece. . . . 3-1-36
5

10

15

To Mexico3
I sang to you since very young; love for your land I felt as a child; my first poetry in our own tongue was for you, my homeland. Ive seen you through pages of history fallen and anguishedthough not defeated! Youve endured crimes and glory: heroic, fratricidal and sacred. The insurgent bathes you in your own blood, for money the politician sells you . . . I know well your flaws, my homeland, and because I know them, I love you. When I hear of progress that you make my heart grows proud from foreign lands I amble; and if your children stab you in the back, as if my own heart were hurt . . . I tremble. . . . 3-1-36
5

10

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Himno
Canten, aves, desde rboles floridos; canten, sauces, de cumbre hasta raz. Canten, ros, alegres y movidos; canten, vientos, que mueven el maz. Canten todos, en un cantar unidos, la beldad de mi pas. Coronados sus montes de alabastro; son sus valles bellsimo matiz. Fue mi Mxico el ms bello diamante en la corona de Espaa emperatriz. Y ahora que es libre y soberano, ms, ms bello mi pas. . . . septiembre 1932
(Nota: Mi primera poesa en espaol.)

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Hymn4
Sing, birds, from flowered tree; sing, willows, from top to ground. Sing, rivers, moving and merry; sing, winds, that sway the cornfield. Sing all, in a song of unity, the beauty of my land. Your mountains crowned with alabaster; your valleys a beautiful shade, my Mexico was the most beautiful diamond in the crown empress Spain made. And now that it is free and sovereign, more, more beautiful is my land. . . . September 1932
(Note: My first poem in Spanish.)

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Mxico, la ilusin del continente

Con todo respeto, al Lic. Nemesio Garca Naranjo. Despus de escuchar su Conferencia en Matamoros, Tamps.

En tierra ajena me arroj la vida al sacarme del limbo de la Nada. Ajena digo? Tierra enajenada! que ha tiempo fuera de mi patria herida. Yo paso mis veinte aos desgraciados confuso en lo sajn y lo latino; mas, pronunciando el espaol divino y con los ojos en el Sur clavados. Viendo la huella que sangrienta traza mi pueblo, que se arroja hacia el arcano, me he llamado sin serlo mexicano pues he dudado de mi propia raza. Perdido entre la duda y las querellas he odo tu palabra palpitante y del Infierno, como el mismo Dante he salido otra vez a las estrellas! Audaz tribuno de las frases bellas! cuando la pena o el dolor me hiera, ensame a ser guila altanera para volar contigo a las estrellas! Y si mi espritu se encuentra yerto, si un Csar me consigna en el Calvario, hazme un nopal heroico y solitario que crece entre las peas del desierto!
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Mexico, the Illusion of the Continent5

With all due respect to Dr. Nemesio Garca Naranjo. After hearing his Presentation in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

Life has thrown me onto foreign land pulling me from the limbo of Oblivion. Alien I say? Alienated station! All this time outside my hurt homeland. I pass my tragic twenty year youth confused about things Latin and things English; still, pronouncing the divine Spanish and with eyes fixed firmly South. Looking at the bloody footprints that trace my people, who rush towards the arcane, without being I have called myself Mexican for I have doubted my own race. Lost in doubt and in disdain your palpitating words still engulf and from Hell, like Dante himself, to the stars I have come out again! Bold herald of beautiful phrases! When sorrow or pain wound me teach me to be an eagle soaring free so I can fly with you to those stars! And if my spirit lays lifeless, if a Ceasar consigns me to the Calvary, make me a nopal heroic and solitary that grows between desert bolder crevices!
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Mi alma que en tinieblas fu indecisa espera una palabra que la aliente; quiere ser . . . siquiera una serpiente que hiere al presuntuoso que la pisa! Ser mi luz, la estrella que me gua el guila, el nopal y la serpiente: Mxico! La ilusin del continente! Mxico! La ilusin del alma ma! . . . 5-1-36

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My soul once unsure in shadows awaits for a word to inspire it; I want to be . . . at least a serpent that wounds the arrogant who tramples! It will be my light, my guiding starshine, the eagle, the cactus and the serpent: Mexico! The illusion of the continent! Mexico! The illusion of this soul of mine! . . . 5-1-36

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El sueo de Bolvar
De las sierras de Sonora, del hogar del fiero Yaqui, hijo de Mexitli el Yaqui, hijo del feroz Mexitli, de Mexitli, dios de guerra! Del desierto cuyos vientos cantan lnguidas canciones, cantan sones de otros tiempos, cantan en voz suave y vaga . . . del desierto cuyos vientos dicen cuentan temblorosos de los hechos, las hazaas, de las muertes y batallas y del crimen y la sangre en las tierras que atraviesan con sus viajes incesantes. Y que cuentan, suspirando de amargura y de tristeza, las leyendas amorosas, todas llenas de misterio, de armona y de perfume, de las gentes sin historia, de los pueblos que han quedado sobre el seno del olvido. . . Hasta el fin del continente que en inmensidad extiende hacia el Sur su gran dominio acabando en Patagonia, donde el mismo viento vago
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Bolvars Dream6
From the mountains of Sonora, from the home of the fiery Yaqui, son of Mexitli the Yaqui, son of the fierce Mexitli, of Mexitli, god of war! From the desert whose winds sing long languid songs, sing songs of other times, sing in soft and wandering voice . . . from the desert whose winds saytell trembling of deeds, of feats, of deaths and battles and of crime and blood in the lands they cross with their incessant travels. And that tell, sighing with bitterness and sadness, the lovely legends, all full of mystery, of harmony and perfume, of the people with no history, of the towns that have remained on the breast of oblivion. . . To the end of the continent that extends into immensity its great dominion towards the South ending in Patagonia, where the same wandering wind
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ya no canta ni suspira, ya no tiembla ni solloza, ya no llora sus recuerdos, Sino en alas de tormenta da tremendos alaridos, grita el grito de la guerra contra todo lo que vive! Este inmenso territorio que en su tiempo ha conocido a los incas y toltecas, los aztecas y los mayas y ms tarde ha despertado con el paso conquistante de Corts y de Pizarro es la Amrica Latina, es la tierra del futuro, es la patria de Bolvar. O Bolvar! o coloso! o guerrero apasionado! Fu tan alto, puro y vano aquel sueo que soaste? Fu tan alto como el vuelo del cndor sobre los Andes, del cndor, rey de las aves, compaero de las nubes, que contempla solitario desde su serena altura la avaricia y la lujuria de este mundo de los hombres.

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no longer sings nor sighs, no longer trembles nor wails, no longer cries its memories, Rather in wings of a storm makes tremendous howls, shouts the cry of war against all that lives! This immense territory that in its time has known the Incas and Toltecs, the Aztecs and the Mayas and later has awakened with the conquering march of Corts and Pizarro it is Latin America, it is the land of the future, it is the land of Bolvar. O Bolvar! O colossus! O impassioned warrior! Was it so exalted, pure and vain that dream you dreamed? It was as high as the flight of the condor over the Andes, of the condor, king of the birds, companion of clouds, that contemplates alone from its serene height the avarice and greed of this world of men.

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Fue tan puro como nieve que la tierra no ha tocado, como gota de roco en un cliz de amapola, lgrima que la alborada vi en los ojos de la noche! Vano? Porque t caste sin que fuera realizado? y por eso fu miraje que seduce al caminante? y por eso fu la espuma de los mares que t araste? No ha cado en tierra infrtil la semilla que sembraste y que regada est con sangre; lo que echaste t a los mares sobre las inquietas aguas llegar a la playa un da. . . . primavera 1934

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It was as pure as snow that the earth has not touched, like a drop of dew in the chalice of a poppy, tear that the woodlands saw in the eyes of night! Vain? Because you fell without it being realized? And for this it was a mirage that seduces the traveler? And for this the foam of the oceans you plowed? It has not fallen on infertile land the seed you sowed and watered well with blood; what you threw into the seas over restless waters will arrive on the beach one day. . . . Spring 1934

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La msica Music

Guadalupe la Chinaca
a Blanca Reducinda

Qu tiene esa voz tan lastimera que en sus lamentos lleva lo agridulce de la sierra aquellos melanclicos acentos de cancin ranchera? De quin es la cancin que as se queja dolorida? Parece ser el canto de mi vieja patria herida. Canta, Guadalupe la Chinaca, canta, canta; deja que el zenzontli herido llore en tu garganta; canta tu cancin remexicana porque al cantarla entre sus quejas sollozantes Mxico me habla! Llevas en tu canto la frescura de aires costeos, todos los secretos y dulzura de mis ensueos,
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Guadalupe la Chinaca7
To Blanca Reducinda

Whats in that voice so tragic its laments carry the bittersweet of mountains those melancholic accents of ranchera music? Whose is the song that complains so pained? It must to be the song of my old wounded motherland. Sing, Guadalupe la Chinaca, sing, sing; Let the wounded zenzontli cry in your throat; Sing that Mexican song because by singing through its sobbing complaints Mexico speaks to me! You carry in your song the freshness of coastal airs, all the secrets and sweetness of my desires,
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lnguidos susurros soadores de platanales, todo el aroma de las flores primaverales, todo el hechizo de tu tierra, tierra caliente, toda la queja de la sierra, queja doliente, cntico del rstico galante, notas tan llenas de todo el anhelo palpitante de las morenas. Canta, que La Voz de los violines cual sangre mana, Y la guitarra en ricas perlas se desgrana. Canta, Guadalupe la Chinaca, canta, canta; deja que el zenzontli herido llore en tu garganta; canta tu cancin remexicana porque al cantarla entre sus quejas sollozantes Mxico me habla! . . . 6-7-36
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languid dreamy whispers of banana orchards, all the aromas of springtime flowers all the magic of your land, hot land, all the mountain cries, painful cries, gospel of the rustic gallant notes so full with all the palpitating want of dark women. Sing, that the voice of violins flows like blood, And the guitar of rich pearls releases its jewels. Sing, Guadalupe la Chinaca, sing, sing; let the wounded zenzontli cry in your throat; sing that Mexican song because by singing through its sobbing complaints Mexico speaks to me! . . . 6-7-36
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Canciones
La guitarra llora; la guitarra canta. Lamenta el violn . . . Y una voz impetuosa con el alma en su canto sencilla y serrana, con ardor se levanta en la msica hermosa de cancin mexicana! Qu tendrn tus canciones, patria ma; qu tendrn tus canciones. Que gritan con salvaje lozana, que lloran como tristes corazones. Qu tendrn tus corridos, tus huapangos, tus tristes yucatecas y tus sones. Qu tendrn tus canciones, patria ma; qu tendrn tus canciones! . . . abril 1935

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Songs8
The guitar cries; the guitar sings. The violin laments . . . And an impetuous voice with the soul in its song simple and mountainous, with ardor it arises, in the beautiful sounds of Mexican song! Whats in your songs, homeland of mine; whats in your songs. That scream with wild pride, that cry like sad hearts. Whats in your corridos, your huapangos, your sad yucatecas and your sones. Whats in your songs, homeland of mine; Whats in your songs! . . . April 1935

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Paso doble
Ah, fiera y palpitante meloda, grito de mujer-pantera bruna, aire que en Granada tuvo cuna y madre en la pasin de Andaluca. Espritu indomable, alma brava, alma entristecida de gitana, cuerpo de sensual diosa pagana derroche de hermosura y lozana! Encierra aquel orgullo de la Espaa que supo despachar a tierra extraa lo mejor de su sangre brava y noble. Encierra la arrogancia y gallarda y todo aquel desdn de la hidalgua el ritmo arrobador de un paso doble. . . . 1-16-34
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Paso Doble9
Oh, fierce and throbbing melodies, shout of brown panther woman, a wind from Granada you were born and mother the passion of Andaluz skies. Untamed spirit, soul courageous, a gypsy soul sad and down, a gods body sensuous and pagan beauty and pride in total excess! You enshrine that pride of Spain that brilliantly sent to lands foreign the best of its brave and noble blood. You enshrine arrogance and gallantry and all that disdain of nobility the enraptured rhythm of a paso doble. . . . 1-16-34
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Rumba
Lejos de m los suaves madrigales, los pjaros de voces lastimeras; quiero en mi odo el grito de las fieras, quiero sentir pasiones animales que escondidas en duros matorrales de la mente, esperaban cual panteras sensuales cual meneo de caderas en xtasis de bailes bacanales. Ah, canto que con tu fiereza dueles! del frica naciste, rumba ardiente, y tienes un sabor de hierro y hieles. Cancin espiritual nunca se siente; lo mstico, lo triste, tiene mieles lo carnal, lo salvaje, es aguardiente! . . . 6-20-34
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Rumba10
So distant the soft madrigals, birds with voices so sad and mild; I want to hear the shout of the wild, I want to feel animal passions hidden in thicket branches of the mind, like panthers waiting sensuous like a hip swing in ecstasy of Bachannalian dances. Oh, song who hurts with ferocity! Burning rumba, from Africa you have dwelled, and you taste of iron and hostility. Spiritual song is never felt; the mystical, the tragic, still has beauty the carnal, the savage, an intoxicant! . . . 6-20-34
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La naturaleza Nature

Oracin
Beldad extica! Princesa mora! ah, Noche! triste Diosa! Madre ma! hermana de la Muerte obscura y fra, escucha mi alma dbil que te implora! Tiende doquier tu sombra bienhechora que ya el bullicio y el calor del da clavronme sus garras de porfa, ah, ven, dulcsima, que mi alma llora! No busco a tu hijo el de las alas bellas al Sueo no lo espero. Ah, Sultana, ms grande es el deleite de mirarte. Ven, t, con el turbante hecho de estrellas y en tu frente la luna musulmana, que quiero en las tinieblas adorarte! . . . 7-15-36
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Prayer11
Exotic beauty! Moorish princess! Oh, Night! Sad Goddess! Mother of me! Sister of Death cold and dreary, listen to my weak soul that implores! Spread out your shadow of goodness, for the racket and warmth of the day have nailed me with their stubborn claws already! Oh, come, sweet thing, for my soul cries! I do not seek your son of pretty wings I do not await Sleep. Oh, Sultanness, much greater is the delight of seeing you. Come, you, with turban made of starlings and the Muslim moon upon your face, for in the darkness I want to worship you. . . . 7-15-36
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El Ro Bravo
Ro Bravo, Ro Bravo, que en tu cauce lento vas con frecuentes remolinos, cual si quieres ir atrs. cual si quieren tus corrientes sobre el cauce devolver a buscar ignotas fuentes que les dieron vida y ser, as vas mientras tus aguas lloran, lloran sin cesar a morirte lentamente a las mrgenes del mar. Mis pasiones y mis cuitas en tu seno quiero ahogar; llvate el dolor de mi alma en tu parda inmensidad. Que he nacido a tus orillas y muy joven ya sent que hay en mi alma torbellinos, que ella se parece a ti. Turbia, s, de fondo obscuro, mas el Sol le hace brillar; con suspiros rebeliones y bregando sin cesar.
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The Rio Grande12

Muddy river, muddy river, Moving slowly down your track With your swirls and counter-currents, As though wanting to turn back, As though wanting to turn back Towards the place where you were born, While your currents swirl and eddy, While you whisper, whimper, and mourn; So you wander down your channel Always on, since it must be, Till you die so very gently By the margin of the sea. All my pain and all my trouble In your bosom let me hide, Drain my soul of all its sorrow As you drain the countryside, For I was born beside your waters, And since very young I knew That my soul had hidden currents, That my soul resembled you, Troubled, dark, its bottom hidden While its surface mocks the sun, With its sighs and its rebellions, Yet compelled to travel on.
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Cuando muera, cuando muera y se pudra el cuerpo ya, mi alma, como riachuelo a tus aguas correr. Pasaremos por los campos que se mirarn verdear, por jacales de rancheros, a las ruinas de Bagdad . . . . Y tus aguas moribundas en lo azul se perdern, mientras duermo dulcemente a las mrgenes del mar. . . . 7-21-36

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When the soul must leave the body, When the wasted flesh must die, I shall trickle forth to join you, In your bosom I shall lie; We shall wander through the country Where your banks in green are clad, Past the shanties of rancheros, By the ruins of old Baghdad, Till at last your dying waters, Will release their hold on me, and my soul will sleep forever By the margin of the sea. . . . 7-21-36

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El huracn
Del mar se acerca con gigantes pasos, del mar, que siendo inmune, le enfurece; la brisa, dbil hembra, enmudece cuando en el norte ve sus negros trazos. Ya se oye su rugido que amenaza; se ve el relampagear de sus pupilas que anuncian destruccin, cual dos Atilas . . . Se siente lo pesado de su maza! Se agitan sus vestidos harapientos; resuena por los cielos su alarido; y cae sobre ciudad y sobre ejido la furia del guerrero de los vientos! . . . 7-24-34
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The Hurricane13
From sea with great steps it approaches, from the sea, so free, it enrages him; and the wind, weak little girl, just goes dim when up north she sees its dark black traces. And now its ominous rumble is heard; you can see the lightning of its pupils that announce destruction, like two Attilas . . . You can feel the weight of its mace hard! Its dirty ragged clothes stir; over the skies its holler resounds; and on city and farm descends the fury of the wind warrior! . . . 7-24-34
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Primavera en la ciudad
Estoy aprisionado entre mansiones, por fincas imponentes rodeado, las nuevas levantando sus bastiones ms alto que han las otras alcanzado; van hacia arriba en avaricia y celo como gigantes en feroz combate . . . Quiero estar en el campo al libre cielo! donde el Bravo enverdece sus riberas, donde hay siempre primavera y hay rancheras de ojos verdes y labios de granate! . . . invierno 1932

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Spring in the City14

I am imprisoned among mansions, by impressive estates besieged, new ones raising their bastions higher than the others have reached; they reach up with avarice and jealous like giants in ferocious combat. . . I want to be in open air of the country! where the Rio Grande greens its shores, where there is always spring and ranchgirls with green eyes and lips garnet and rosy! . . . Winter 1932

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Tarde de otoo
Con quejumbrosa voz, el triste viento que gime sollozante mis dolores azota sin piedad las negras flores que tiene mi jardn del pensamiento. Entonces el espritu sediento, que ahogado por pasiones y rencores callaba su desdicha y sus temores, se queja de la vida en canto lento. La tarde, la magnfica pintura que traza el Astro-Rey al fin del da, el viento que se queja y que murmura y la llegada de la noche fra alejan poco a poco la amargura y traen consigo la melancola. . . . septiembre 1933
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Autumns Evening15
With a quivering voice, the distraught wind that hollers and sobs my tortures mercilously beats the black flowers that the garden of my thought contained. Then the thirsty spirit, so drowned with deep passions and angers it silenced its misery and fears, about life in a low chant complained. The evening, a magnificent painting that traces the Star-King at the end of the day, the wind that complains murmuring and the night so icy arriving little by little discard the bitterness away and with them melancholy they bring. . . . September 1933
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Serenata de plata
Luna que serena brillas, blanca reina majestuosa, casta Diana, bella diosa, duea de las serranas donde con tus manos fras mueves el pincel plateado, transformando todo el prado en caprichosas fantasas, luna, qu serena brillas! Plata el campo, el ro plata, plata el sauce rociado que susurra y que se acata . . . La guitarra se desata! Un galante plateado canta blanca serenata! . . . invierno 1932

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Silver Serenade16
Moon who shines so serene, a white queen of majesty, chaste Diana, goddess of beauty, monarch of all the mountain where with a cold handed design you move the silvered pen holy, transforming the meadow holly into whimsical fantasy green, moon, how you shine so serene! Silver the field, the silver river, silver the dew-filled willow that obeys with its whisper . . . The guitar rattles its hollow! A silver clad courtier sings a serenade of snow! . . . Winter 1932

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Noche
Noche! Diosa que viste nacer al universo, reina absoluta de lo que ms all se extiende, Noche! Negra flor! De lo ms tenebroso de tus entraas mi alma levanta una queja, un gemido al infinito, una queja de angustia, de soledad del indecible deseo. Cuando reinas suprema sobre el mundo sooliento. con las estrellas entre tus cabellos y la luna en tu frente morena, suenan en mis odos las notas de tu msica silenciosa . . . Y la parte de ti que en m se aloja anhela desesperadamente por desprenderse de la tierra, por volar hacia arriba a mezclarse, a confundirse, a hacerse una con tu inmensidad. Noche! Negra flor! . . . primavera 1933

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Night17
Night! Goddess who saw the universe born, true queen of what extends beyond, Night! Black flower! From the darkest depths of your entrails my soul raises a complaint, a moan into infinity a complaint of anguish, lonelinessof the unspeakable desire. When you reign supreme over the slumbering world, with the stars between your hairs and the moon on your brown face, the notes of your silent music resound in my ears . . . And the piece of you residing in me desperately longs to break free from the earth, to fly upwards to mix itself, to confuse itself, to make itself one with your immensity. Night! Black flower! . . . Spring 1933
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La comedia del amor The Comedy of Love

Cancin
T eres la causa que yo me encuentre sobre los mares de poesa y si mi barca naufragara yo me ahogara en ridiculez. T eres la causa que yo me encuentre diciendo cosas que no deba Mas, si tu orgullo lo permitiera qu me dijera tu alma a la vez! . . . agosto 1933
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Song18
You have pushed me to the brink of the seas of poetry, and if my ship should sink I would drown in absurdity. You have pushed me to the brink of saying things that should not be. But, if your pride would think oh, what your soul would say to me! . . . August 1933
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No sias creido
No sias creido, Pantalin; son iguales las mujeres y por ms que t las queres, son traidoras, Pantalin. Te dicen Por ti stoy loca; eres lnico, mi amor . . . y te dejan por otro sior abriendo tamaa boca. Con tu probe corazn noms queren jugar un rato. No sias bruto! No sias bruto! No sias creido, Pantalin! . . . 10-29-35
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Don Be Conceited19
Don be conceited Pantaloon; all women are the same even tho you luv em, they betray, Pantaloon. They sayIm crazy for you; youre th only one, love of mine . . . then leave you for another man mouth wide as they do. With your po hearts swoon they only wanna play a while. Don be stupid! Don be a fool! Don be conceited, Pantaloon! . . . 10-29-35
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A una sajona
Si te dijera: Tu mirada triste le dio un feliz instante a mi existencia; tus ojos que reflejan la inocencia, con ellos yo no s lo que me hiciste! Si te dijera: Cuando sonreste mataste la razn y la experiencia en m, tus labios tienen tal potencia! Diras lo que en sueos me dijiste? Si te dijera pero no te digo! Ya supe lo que son tus ojos geros que buscan nada ms jugar conmigo. Ojos tristes son siempre traicioneros y aunque me llene de pasin contigo, conozco ya tus viejos correderos. . . . 7-30-34
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To An Anglo Girl20
If I were to say: Your gaze of melancholy brought some joy to my existence; your eyes that mirror innocence, with themI dont know what you did to me! If I were to say: When you smiled gaily you murdered my reason and experience, your lips have that omnipotence! Would you say what in dreams you spoke to me? If I were to saybut I dont say! I already knew the truth about your pale eyes that want nothing more but to play. Sad eyes always betray and though you fill me with desires I already know well your old way. . . . 7-30-34
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Fbula
Una ninfa naci entre los cisneros; le toc ser tan grcil y tan bella que pareca solitaria estrella en los plidos cielos maaneros. Oyeme, t, serena y casta luna, t gozaste al brillar en sus ojazos; la viste juguetear entre lampazos con los cisnes de nieve en la laguna! Y los faunos y stiros ardientes buscaban anhelantes sus amores; ms a todos la ninfa daba flores y se rea de sus pretendientes. Y de todos la ninfa se burlaba mas encontrse un da junto al ro a un pensativo stiro sombro que ni alzaba el mirar ni la buscaba. Enfadse la bella a esos desdenes; ponindose tambin muy desdeosa al stiro le dijo muy airosa: Habla! Quin eres t? De dnde vienes? Y l contest: Soy bardo peregrino; vengo de ignotas y ridas regiones; no traigo ms que el polvo del camino y nada s mas que cantar canciones. S, mucho polvo, s; que eres reseco la ninfa respondi en alegre chanza.
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Fable21
A nymph was born among swan tides; it was so beautiful and slender she seemed like a lonely star in the pale morning skies. Hear me, you, calm and chaste moon, you enjoyed shinning in her eyes bright; saw her play in the pastoral height with swans of snow in the lagoon! And the fawns and burning satyrs searched longing for her loves; but to all, the nymph gave cloves and just laughed at all her suitors. And the nymph ridiculed them all. until she found by the river a sad and pensive satyr who took no notice nor did call. Our beauty grew mad at that disdain; and also gave a disdainful look and to the satyr angrily spoke: Speak! Who are you? What is your origin. And he replied: I am a wandering bard; I come from dry and unknown lands; I have nothing but the dust of the road and know only how to sing my chants. Yes, too much dust, yes; you are dried out the nymph replied with a happy phrase.
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Vamos a ver, Orfeo, una alabanza a mi hermosura; que resuene el eco! Ta el lad con mano exploradora, dando a la ninfa una mirada fra; cual brota el llanto de mujer que llora del poeta brot la meloda!. . . Mariposa, mariposa, mariposa de alegres galas, cudate bien las alas, mariposa, mariposa. Bella rosa, bella rosa, rosa que me perfuma; la hermosura es una espuma, bella, bella, bella rosa. Posa el pensamiento, posa la mirada en el futuro; cae el fruto ya maduro y en el suelo se destroza. Mariposa, mariposa, mariposa de alegres galas, cudate bien las alas, mariposa, mariposa. Y al orme cantar de esta manera, te fuiste, altiva nyade, te fuiste; te marchaste muy bella y altanera mas, a pesar de todo . . . un poco triste. . . . 7-26-36

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Let us see, Orpheus, a praise to my beauty; let the echo shout! He played the lute with wandering hand, giving the nymph a cold stare; like tears springing from a weeping woman the poet let loose a melodious air!. . . Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly of lively dress, watch well your wing tress, butterfly, butterfly. Beautiful rose, beautiful rose, rose that perfumes my nose; this beauty is a mist that grows, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful rose. Lay your mind, lay your sight on the future; the fruit will drop when mature and on the ground it will die. Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly of lively dress, watch well your wing tress, butterfly, butterfly. And when you heard me sing it so you left, you left, proud nyad; pretty and proud you did go and, in spite of it all . . . a little sad. . . . 7-26-36
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Amor y rosas
Una rosa t me diste, una bella, roja flor, y pregunta t me hiciste: Dime, qu se llama amor? Si pudiera yo saber cuantas mariposas vienen a beber del nctar de tus rosas, pudiera yo, mujer, explicarte tales cosas. Ms . . . es como las rosas la pasin llamada amor: un momento sonrosada, cual la rosa que me diste, para maana triste y pasado deshojada. Como flor, como flor que t me diste, es tan frgil y tan triste lo que se le llama amor. . . . 10-29-35
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Love and Roses22

A rose you gave, a beautiful, red rose, and the question you pose: Tell me: What is love? If I could know how many butterflies come to swallow the nectar of your roses, woman, I could go explain to you all this. For . . . it is like roses the passion called love: for a moment it blushes, like the rose you gave, by tomorrow sad gushes and a day later not a leaf. Like a rose, like a rose you gave, so fragil and full of woes that which is called love. . . . 10-29-35
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Juguete (I)
Entre fragantes y lucientes flores, ms bella que la plida azucena, yo te contemplo, angelical morena, sultana del harn de mis amores! Llorando sin voz por mis dolores en el jardn sin fin de tu recuerdo volviendo a recordarte as me pierdo entre fragantes y lucientes flores. Recuerdo tu faz de virgen nazarena, tu boca de coral, tus ojos vivos, expresin de tu raza, hispano-altivos ms bella que la plida azucena. Hiere mi corazn la fiera pena; pero an recuerdo tu figura esbelta y con el alma en la ilusin envuelta, yo te contemplo, angelical morena. Y por siempre en el jardn de mis dolores cortar de azucenas exquisitas, las flores de ayer, flores marchitas sultana del harn de mis amores! . . . 4-30-36
(Nota: Las primeras cuatro lneas de Roberto Ramrez, as como la ltima de las otras estancias. Las dems en tipo negro de Sabs Klahn; las restantes de Paredes.)
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Toy (I)23
Between brilliant and fragrant flowers, more beautiful than a white lillys pale, I adore you, beautiful brown angel, sultanness from the harem of my lovers. Crying in silence from my sorrows in the endless garden of your memory, with each thought I lose my way between brilliant and fragrant flowers. I remember your Nazarene face virginal, your coral mouth, you lively eyes, Hispanic-proud, symbol of your race, more beautiful than a white lillys pale. My heart hurts infernal; but I still remember your slender disposition and with my soul caught in the illusion, I adore you, beautiful brown angel. And forever in the garden of my sorrows I will cut from exquisite lillies, the flowers of yesterday, withered flowers sultanness from the harem of my lovers! . . . 4-30-36
(Note: The first four lines are from Roberto Ramrez, as are the last of the other stanzas. The others in bold [italics here] are from Sabs Klahn; the rest from Paredes.)
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Juguete (II)
Mi vida es una rosa deshojada; cada ptalo es una ilusin. Mi vida es una rosa destrozada por el tiempo, la vida y la pasin. Lleg al jardn de mi temprana vida el duro cierzo con su mano helada, dejando mi ilusin as esparcida: mi vida es una rosa deshojada. Lleg la rfaga del cruel invierno y destroz mi flor del corazn; perdi sus ptalos al hondo cieno: cada ptalo es una ilusin. Ya ni el perfume de la rosa queda, slo el recuerdo de la infiel amada como un solo ptalo que rueda mi vida es una rosa destrozada. Y en horas tristes cuando sola el alma musita a solas con su decepcin, comprende y llora que perdi la calma por el tiempo, la vida y la pasin. . . . 4-30-36
(Nota: Las primeras dos lneas de Ramrez, las segundas dos de Paredes. Las otras nuevas: de Klahn las de tipo negro y de Paredes las dems.)
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Toy (II)24
My life is a rose withered; each petal an illusion. My life is a rose ruined by time, life and pasion. To the garden of my young life came the harsh north winds frozen hand, leaving my illusion scattered lame: my life is a rose withered. The blast of cruel winter arrived and tore the flower of my affection; it lost its petals in the deep mud: each petal is an illusion. Now not even the roses perfume remains only the memory of the unfaithful beloved like a single petal that tumbles my life is a rose ruined. And in sad hours when the soul is alone it mumbles lonely with its deception, it understands and criesall calm gone by time, life and passion. . . . 4-30-36
(Note: The first two lines are from Ramrez, the second ones from Paredes. The other new ones: from Klahn in bold [italics here] and from Paredes the rest.)
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Lgrimas negras
Llora el mar y sus arenas lo que yo estoy padeciendo; llora la pluma escribiendo negras lgrimas de penas.* Vago estas playas ajenas cabizbajo y pensativo y viendo el dolor en que vivo, llora el mar y sus arenas. Eres rosa y rosa siendo con tu aroma ideal me inspiras t que ni sabes ni miras lo que yo estoy padeciendo. Vago mis penas diciendo por ti, amor de mis amores, y viendo mis sinsabores llora la pluma escribiendo. Y viendo que me encadenas con tus manos exquisitas, brotan del alma marchitas negras lgrimas de penas! . . . 4-30-36
*(Nota: de don Justo Cisneros, bisabuelo del que escribe.)
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Black Tears25
Sea and sands grieve what I am suffering; the pen writes crying black tears of grief.* I wander these foreign reefs crestfallen and pensive and seeing the pain I live, sea and sands grieve. You are a rose and rose being your perfect aroma inspires me you who cannot know or see what I am suffering. I wander my sorrows saying for you, love of my love, and seeing me grieve the pen writes crying. And being chained without relief by your exquisite hand, from my soul bursts withered black tears of grief! . . . 4-30-36
*(Note: By Don Justo Cisneros, great grandfather of the writer.)
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Ojos tristes
Ojos tristes, ojos tristes, dulze imagen que he soado, ay de m, de m cuitado, mira el dolo que ficiste. Corasn, todo le distes, nunca qusote ella, nunca, con el alma trunca, trunca, de su vida t te fuistes. Ojos tristes, ojos tristes, bello ser idolatrado, ay de m, de m cuitado, mira el mal que me ficistes. . . . 7-8-36
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Sad Eyes26
Sad eyes, sad eyes, sweet image I have dreamt, woe is me, my lament, see the pain you devise. Heart, you gave her all, never did she love you back, never, with severed soul, severed, out of her life you did fall. Sad eyes, sad eyes, good to be worshipped, woe is me, my lament, see the wrong you did devise. . . . 7-8-36
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Serenata
Luna que sabes mi mal, luna que ves mi dolor, v a la ventana a mirar si duerme mi amor . . . duerme mi amor. Estrellas que encienden al mar cirios de incierto fulgor, vengan tambin a velar que duerme mi amor . . . duerme mi amor. Brisa del amanecer, besa sus labios de flor cfiro quisiera ser . . . y duerme mi amor . . . duerme mi amor. . . . invierno 1932

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Serenade27
Moon who knows what ails me, moon who sees my pain, go to the window and see if my love sleeps . . . my love sleeps. Stars that light the sea candles of unknown splendor, also come watch and see because my love sleeps . . . my love sleeps. Sunrise breeze, sunrise breeze, kiss her flowered lips zephyr I wish to be . . . and my love sleeps . . . my love sleeps. . . . Winter 1932

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Si t supieras
Si t supieras lo que sufre el alma cuando por otra llora silenciosa, si t supieras, joven caprichosa, si t supieras lo que duele el alma . . . Si t supieras lo que duele el alma y si en la tuya sintieras el anhelo, si conocieras el cruel desdn y el celo, muy bien supieras lo que sufre el alma. Si conocieras la dicha atormentada que causa con mirar un ser querido, si t tuvieras el corazn herido, si t estuvieras realmente enamorada, y si tuvieras el alma dolorida a causa de un amor sincero y puro, bebieras, vida ma, te lo juro, del nctar que Cupido nos convida. Y si supieras lo corto que es la vida, si t supieras, criatura de una hora, que por ms bella y rosada que es la aurora muy pronto quedar desvanecida, si t supieras que cada flor que nace en poco tiempo queda deshojada, que de los hombres quedar olvidada cuando su bello rojo se deshace . . .
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If You Knew28
If you knew what the soul suffers when it silently cries for another, if you knew, capricios lover, if you knew what the soul endures. If you knew what the soul endures and if in your own you felt the yearning, if you knew jealousy and cruel disdaining, you would know well how the soul suffers. If you felt that tormented love that comes from seeing a beloved, if you had your heart wounded, if you truly were in love, and if you had your soul aching from a love sincere and pure, you would drink, my love, I assure, from the nectar of Cupids offering. And if you knew how life goes by, if you knew, my sweet little thing, that however pretty and pink the morning soon enough it will fade away, if you knew that each birthing flower in little time will defoliate, that from mens minds it will disintegrate when its lovely red goes sour . . .
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Muy pronto dejaras de tu impo jugar con corazones amaras! y un par de copas llenas me daras del vino que el futuro hara mo. Bah! Yo no soy ansioso de licores, son altos y divinos mis antojos; las copas que yo quiero son tus ojos . . . pues brndame con ellos tus amores. Ah, Tiempo que nos guas caminante por sendas espinosas y sin tregua! Los hombres llaman ao a cada legua que andamos en la marcha incesante . . . La yungla del pasado traicionero esconde a cuatro leguas la tableta en cual un da quiso tu poeta grabar en letras de oro: YO TE QUIERO. . . . verano 1933

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Very soon you would quit your profane play with heartsyou would love! and a pair of filled cups you would give with wine that time would make mine. Bah! I am not anxious for liquors my cravings are noble and higher; your eyes are the glasses I desire . . . so with them give that love of yours. Oh! Time who guides us on through thorny paths without falter! Men call a year each league they saunter in our ceaseless marathon . . . The jungle of the evil milieu four leagues in hides the tablet in which one day decided your poet to engrave in gold letters: I LOVE YOU. . . . Summer 1933

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Rima (I)
Hay unos ojos que si me miran hacen que llore mi corazn; hay unos labios que si suspiran me parten lalma sin compasin. Ah, labios vivos; ay, labios rojos, por qu suspiran? por qu arrebatan? ay, ojos tristes; ay, lindos ojos, por qu me miran? por qu me matan? Hay unas manos, difanas manos, color de nieve cual blanco tul; hay unos brazos esculturales con entre-encajes de leve azul. Ay, ojos tristes, lindos ojazos, ay, vivos labios de carmes, ay, blancas manos; ay, bellos brazos, en vuestros lazos, en vuestros lazos quiero morir. . . . 5-8-36
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Rhyme (I)29
There are eyes whose gaze would cause my heart to cry; there are lips whose simple sigh would rip my soul with craze. Oh, lively lips; oh, red lips, why do you sigh?why do you thrill? Oh, sad eyes; oh, sweet eyes, why do you watch? Why do you kill? There are hands, transparent palms, color of snow like pale cotton hue; there are sculptured arms laced throughout with light blue. Oh, sad eyes, sweet eye charms, oh, lively crimson lips, oh, white hands; oh lovely arms, in thine grips, I want to die in thine grips. . . . 5-8-36
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Rima (II)
Yo quiero ser el importuno sueo que turba a media noche tu reposo; yo quiero ser el cfiro nocturno que juega con tu labio primoroso. Pero duerme virgen anglica en silencio, nada turbe tu sueo, blanca flor; que voy a hacerme gota de tu sangre para llegar hasta tu corazn! . . . 5-5-36
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Rhyme (II)30
I want to be the stubborn dream that disturbs your midnight slumber; I want to be the nighttime zephyr that plays with your lovely lip seam. But sleep silent angelic virgin tart, nothing disturbs your sleep, white flower bud; for I will become a drop of your blood so I can reach up to your heart! . . . 5-5-36
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Rima (III)
Al cielo de tus ojos zarcos miro; en tus plidos manos yazco preso y como Bcquer a su Julia digo Qu te diera por un beso! Un mundo diera l por su mirada, por su altiva sonrisa diera un cielo; por sus labios, quin sabe qu ofrendara en el xtasis loco de su anhelo? Yo no tengo ni mundos (menos cielos) y por eso por un beso, mi vida, yo te ofrezco otro beso. . . . 6-30-36
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Rhyme (III)31
Into the sky of your blue eyes I gaze; in your pale hands I lay captive and like Bcquer to his Julia I say Oh! For a kiss what I would give! He would give a world for her, for her proud smile hed give a sky; for her lips, who knows what hed offer in the crazy ecstasy of his desire? I dont have worlds (nor skies either) and because of this for a kiss, my love, I can offer just another kiss. . . . 6-30-36
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Song to Celia
Brndame con tus ojos y con los mos te brindar. O deja un beso dentro la copa; ms vino que ese no pedir. La sed del alma para calmarse divino pide que sea el licor; mas si su nctar me diera Zeus, tomara el tuyo como mejor. Ha poco tiempo te mand un ramo, no slo fu por hacerte honor sino por ver si junto a tu lado el ramo siempre quedara en flor. T de las rosas slo aspiraste y el ramo luego volviste a m. Y desde entonces crece y lo juro! no huele a l mismo . . . pues huele a ti! . . . 3-31-36
(Pensamiento de Ben Jonson.)

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Song to Celia32
Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And Ill not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine: But might I of Joves nectar sup, I would not change for thine. I sent thee, late, a rosy wreath, Not so much honouring thee, As giving it a hope that htere It could not withered be. But thou thereon didst only breathe And sentst it back to me, Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee.
(By John Donne [1616].)

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La tragedia del amor The Tragedy of Love

Rima (IV)
Quin fuera rayo de blanca luna, quin fuera lira de dulce voz, quin fuera onda de la laguna quin fuera Dios! Para baarte con luz de plata, acariciarte con mi agua azul, para cantarte una serenata para saber si me quieres t! . . . 5-2-36
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Rhyme (IV)33
Whoever would be ray of the white moon, whoever would be the lyric of sweet sound, whoever would be a ripple of the lagoon would be God! To bath you with silver light shade, to caress you with my water of blue, to sing you a serenade just to know if you love me too! . . . 5-2-36
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A la suerte
Suerte! Suerte que sujetas mi futuro a puo rudo, por qu me hiciste poeta si tambin me hiciste mudo? Si de modo de expresar lo que siento no soy dueo, para qu me diste el alma? para qu me diste el sueo? Para qu impulso me diste de mirar a las estrellas? Para qu me hiciste triste de desear las cosas bellas? Si la estrella que yo veo no la alcanzo y ms que el astro, ms lejano mi deseo hacia cual siempre me arrastro. Ms lejano! Qu desdicha que en el mundo as me vea! Como un Dante sin Beatrice! Quijote sin Dulcinea! Suerte, suerte, qu indiscreta te has jugado t conmigo! Por haberme hecho poeta te abomino! y te bendigo. . . . mayo 1934
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To Luck34
Luck! Luck who does subject my future with fist of brute, why did you make me a poet if you also made me mute? If the way I write and feel does not belong to me, Why did you give me soul? Why did you let me dream? Why did you make me glad to gaze upon the starlings? Why did you make me sad for desiring beautiful things? If the star I see above is too farand beyond a stars orbit, more distant is my love to which Ill always submit. So distant! What curse to be seen like this on earth! Like a Dante with no Beatrice! Quixote without Dulcineas hearth! Luck, luck how indiscrete you have played a trick on me, too! For having made me a poet I hate you! And bless you, too. . . . May 1934
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Rima (V)
A pensar me pongo, a pensar de todo lo que ha pasado, del presente desgraciado, del futuro que vendr, que amabas bien escuchar ayer mis palabras necias reflejo que hoy me desprecias . . . maana qu pasar? . . . 11-7-35
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Rhyme (V)35
I start to ponder, to ponder about all thats come before, about this present I abhor, about the future yet to come, that you really loved to hear my stubborn expressions of yesterday I realize your rejection today . . . tomorrowwhat will come? . . . 11-7-35
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Musa
Tras la hija ardiente de una visin.

A qu cantar el importuno ruego? A qu ensanchar y restregar la herida? Si s que tienes corazn de acero en tu cuerpo de diosa alabastrina? Si s que nunca te tendr en mis brazos, si t eres la fruta prohibida, si existe entre ambos un inmenso lago, por qu te canto en embriaguez divina? Si t ni me miras, ni me nombras, por qu permito que mi amor se quede en ti pensando por las tristes horas cuando estn a mi alcance otras mujeres? No es a ti! No eres t lo que deseo, altiva rapaza indiferente! Es un sueo de amor lo que yo anhelo, la fugaz ilusin que representas. Hay otras que me ofrecen sus amores y es el hombre, no el bardo, quien acepta. Otras calmarn mis sedes de hombre mas, t sers la amada del poeta! . . . 4-25-36
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Muse36
In pursuit of the fiery daughter of a vision.

Why sing a useless appeal? Why widen and rub the injury? If I know you have a heart of steel in your godly alabaster body? If I know Ill never hold you close, if you are the forbidden sweetness, if a large lake lays between us, why do I sing with divine drunkenness? If you dont call or give that look of yours why do I let my love to stay still thinking of you for endless sad hours when other women say they will? It isnt you! You are not what I crave, you child so proud and indifferent! What I desire is a dream of love, that fleeting illusion you represent. There are others who offer their hearts and its the man, not the bard, who will accept. Others will satisfy my manly thirsts. But, you will always be the love of this poet! . . . 4-25-36
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Rima (VI)
Recuerdos, recuerdos tristes, recuerdos de media noche de mieles y de amarguras, de alegras y dolores. Recerdos de ayer dichoso que el pasado me arrebata, recuerdos, dulces recuerdos ay, recuerdos que me matan! . . . 5-4-36
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Rhyme (VI)
Memories, sad memories, memories of midnight of sweetness and bitterness, of happiness and hurt. Memories of happy yesterdays that the past steals away, memories, sweet memories Oh, those memories that slay! . . . 5-4-36
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Canta
A mi condiscpulo Roberto Ramrez R.

Entre fragantes y lucientes flores, ms bella que la plida azucena, yo te contemplo, angelical morena, sultana del harn de mis amores. As le cantas t a la bienquerida, as le cantas t, poeta-hermano, y ella con su desdn y orgullo vano deja en tu pecho herida sobre herida. Mas lloras? canta! y si el dolor consume tu pecho o te hiere como faca, canta an ms no sabes que la albahaca le brinda al que la hiere su perfume? Se re del dolor el alma fuerte y ser alma poderosa es ser divino, es ir por lo ms alto del camino que va desde la cuna hasta la muerte. Pues canta, siempre canta, nunca llores, as la fama te dar cien vidas despus de que se cierren tus heridas, despus de que se sequen ya sus flores. . . . 8-25-35
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Sing37
To my fellow classmate Roberto Ramrez R.

Between brilliant and fragrant flowers, more beautiful than a white lillys pale, I adore you, beautiful brown angel, sultanness from the harem of my lovers. This is how you sing to the beloved, this is how you sing, brother poet, and she with her disdain and vain conceit leaves your chest hurt and wounded. But, why cry? Sing! And if pain consumes your chest or wounds you like a sailors spade, sing even more, for dont you know a basils blade gives its perfume to the one who wounds? A strong soul laughs at gloom for to be a powerful soul is to be divine, it is to travel the roads highest line that goes straight from craddle to the tomb. Well sing, always sing, never cry, so fame will give you a hundred lives long after your wound revives long after your flowers finally go dry. . . . 8-25-35
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Carolina
Carolina, Carolina, blanca estrella vespertina que en el cielo resplandece cuando el da ya declina. Carolina, Carolina, bella rosa de la China, tu hermosura me embelece, tu belleza me fascina. Dicen que de amor carece mi alma ptrida y cochina mas de gozo se estremece cuando digo . . . Carolina. . . . 2-15-35
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Caroline38
Caroline, Caroline, white star of nighttime shining bright in the sky as the day goes in decline. Caroline, Caroline, Chinese flower so divine, your loveliness bewitches me, your beauty excites the mind. Love is absent some will say from this rotten dirty soul of mine, but it trembles full of joy each time I whisper . . . Caroline. . . . 2-15-35
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Ojos verdes
a Carolina Ojos verdes, ojos verdes, de suave mirar tan triste, ojos que visten el alma del color que el bosque viste. Lagos verdes y profundos con trazas de gris en ellos do las nubes del cario reflejan sombra y destellos. Ojos verdes, tristes, bellos tema de mi alabanza; ojos color de follaje, primavera y esperanza. . . . 3-27-36
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Green Eyes39
For Caroline Green eyes, green eyes, of sad and soft stares, eyes that dress the soul the color a forest wears. Green and deep lakes and within them shades of gray where clouds of love reflect shadow and lightray. Green eyes, sad, beauty object of my praise; eyes the color of foliage, hope and spring days. . . . 3-27-36
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Llueve
Llueve, llueve, gris el cielo, gris como los ojos de ella; hoy la noche no es la bella; hoy la noche est de duelo. Cabizbaja est la palma bajo el golpe de agua y viento; en el cuerpo fro siento pero ms fro en el alma. Y la luz en lontananza ms queverse se adivina tras la lquida cortina tal parece mi esperanza. No hay del rayo voz ni huella; slo azota el agua fra; llueve, llueve todava as lloro yo por ella. . . . 10-20-35
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It Rains40
It rains, rains, the sky gray, gray like those eyes of hers; tonight the night is not ours; tonight the night is mourning away. The palm fronds fold under blow of water and wind; the cold I feel within but colder still inside my soul. And the light far aways one can only dream behind the liquid seam this is how my hope sways. No voice nor trace of light ray; only cold water beating; it rains, rains, unrelenting for her this is how I cry. . . . 10-20-35
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Plumas negras
Un cuervo disfrazado de paloma lleg hasta mi ventana un da, cuando la luz, herida por la noche, en los brazos de la tarde se mora . . . y el rubio sol la obscuridad hua. Canta, paloma, yo le dije, canta canta de su dicha y de la ma. El ave abri su pico a mi palabra entonando tan negra letana que partime el corazn cual hoja fra. El cuervo ya vol de mi ventana como vol de mi alma tu ternura mas ha dejado aqu las plumas negras de azabache, como es la noche obscura. . . negras, negras como es mi desventura. . . . 10-29-35

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Black Feathers
A crow disguised as a dove came to my window one day, when light, wounded by night, lay dying in the noontime sway . . . and from darkness the blond sun fled away. Sing dove, I said, sing sing of your joy and mine. The birds beak awoke to my words to sing such a dark rhyme it broke my heart like a leaf in wintertime. The crow has now flown my window like your tenderness fled my souls delight but it has left its black feathers behind of darkest black, like the obscure night black, black just like my plight. . . . 10-29-35

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Horas felices
sas . . . No volvern!

Las horas felices qu pronto pasaron! cual las golondrinas de Bcquer se fueron. Lanzronse al aire; otras tierras buscaron dejando vacos, dejando vacos los nidos de ayer. Qu triste qu solo el colegio sombro! qu extraos mis pasos que en l se pasearon! parece una sala de juerga y de brillo despus de que todas las gentes marcharon. Ya no volvern. Qu palabras tan tristes! tres gotas de hiel tres Infiernos del Dante. Y no volvers t mi amada que fuiste! mi rubia sajona! mi rosa fragante! Adis para siempre! Adis, vida ma. Son otras las tierras que pisan tus pies, donde el espaol que t amaras un da muy poco se escucha entre el brbaro ingls. Colegio! Esfinge de tantos antaos que has visto pasar en audaz desvaro la ideal juventud, dime has visto en tus aos amor como el nuestro? Dolor como el mo? Silencio! Silencio! Callad corazones! S quieto mi pecho. Cerrad cicatrices! Ya siento en las quejas de viejas canciones que todos lamentan sus horas felices.

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Good Times41
Those . . . will never return!

Good timeshow quickly they passed! like Becquers swallows they all fled. Heaved into the sky; other lands they searched leaving vacant leaving vacant the nests of yesterday. How sadthe school so lonely and somber! how distant my steps that walked inside it! It looks like a room for balls and laughter after all the people have departed. They will never return. Such sad prose! Three drops of sorrowthree of Dantes Hells. And you will never returnthe one for whom I fell! My Saxon blond! My fragrant rose! Goodbye forever! My love, goodbye. Upon other lands your feet walk where the Spanish you will love one day is hardly heard amid ugly English talk. School! Sphynx of so many yesterdays who has witnessed the audacious revelry of ideal youth, tell me, have you seen in your days a love like ours? Hurt like the one in me? Silence! Silence! Quiet, you, my hearts! Be still my chest. Heal, you, my scarlines! I now know from old song parts that everyone longs for their good times.

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Las horas felices qu pronto pasaron! cual las golondrinas de Bcquer se fueron. Lanzronse al aire; otras tierras buscaron dejando vacos, dejando vacos los nidos de ayer. . . . 5-31-36

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Good timeshow quickly they passed! like Becquers swallows they all fled. Heaved into the sky; other lands they searched leaving vacant leaving vacant the nests of yesterday. . . . 5-31-36

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May Queen
Una noche divina de mayo, cual esa ninguna, cuando ella era hermosa cual rayo de plida luna, ella era reina de mayo, su esclavo yo era, el rudo, sumiso lacayo y la bella altanera. Ella era Reina del Baile y yo era su payo una noche divina de mayo . . . de mayo, de mayo. . . . 6-21-36
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May Queen
A divine night in May, unlike any other, when she was beautiful as a ray of pale moon glimmer. She was the queen of May, I was her slave, the crude dutiful lackey and she the beauty above. She was Queen of the Dance and I was her nave a divine night in May . . . in May, in May. . . . 6-21-36
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Azul y verde
Torn aquel cielo azul que eran sus ojos sobre el infierno verde de los mos; todos mis sueos y mis desvaros vio sin espanto todos mis abrojos. Torn aquel cielo azul que eran sus ojos sobre el infierno verde de los mos. Eran sus ojos cielo en primavera, los mos verdes yunglas tropicales; rodeado de mil sueos siderales, mi espritu enjaulado era una fiera. Eran sus ojos cielo en primavera, los mos verdes yunglas tropicales. Qu claror en los cielos agrazones! Cuanta fiera escondida en la maleza! En sus ojos azules qu pureza! en los mos qu sedes de pasiones! Cunta fiera escondida en la maleza! Qu claror en los cielos agrazones! . . . 6-27-36

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Blue and Green42

She turned the blue sky of her eyes upon the green inferno of mine; all my dreams and raving mind she saw without fearall my frailties. She turned the blue sky of her eyes upon the green inferno of mine. Her eyes were heaven in springtime sky, my own a jungle of tropical greens; surrounded by a thousand astral dreams, my caged spirit was beastly her eyes were heaven in springtime sky, my own a jungle of tropical greens. What clarity in these angry skies! How many beasts hidden in the bush! In her blue eyesWhat a pure blush! In minewhat passions arise! So many beasts are hidden in the bush! What splendor in these angry skies! . . . 6-27-36

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Rima (VII)
Si alguna vez en mi infeliz jornada diera con ella y grcil y sonriente la encontrara, azul y bella. La pena y el desvelo ocultara el fuego vivo; sin darle una mirada pasara, mudo y altivo. Mas, si por mi senda de poeta, mi extraa vida, la llego a encontrar cual la saeta rota y cada, que los besos divinos de su boca otros robaron, que sus blondos cabellos otros hombres acariciaron, que no s quin ha odo sus palabras de ternura, ni quin habr llegado a estrecharla de la cintura, las hieles y las penas, las espinas y los abrojos en los cuales un da me arrastrara por esos ojos; todo, todo esto olvidara solo mirara
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Rhyme (VII)43
If ever in my sad journey I came upon her smiling and full of glee, blue with beautiful splendor. My sorrow and longing Id hide the live flame; without giving a glance Id just ride voiceless and vain. But, if in my path as a poet, my strange life, I come to find her like a spent bullet fallen and rife, that the divine kisses of her lips by others possessed, that her blond hair in other mens grips carressed, that I cant tell who has heard her voice of tenderness, nor who has been able to squeeze her waist, the sorrows and pains, the thorn and thistle ties through which I once crawled tired and worn for those eyes; all, all of this I would forget just behold,
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en que estaba cada, arrepentida y abandonada. No gastara mis palabras en vanos celos, ni me exaltara vengativo bajo los cielos. Oiramos los dos las melodas de mis bulbules, que al fin haban vuelto a m sus tristes ojos azules. Ah! Si otra vez me la encontrara por mi camino, de todo, de todo me olvidara por su cario. Si su alma viniera y me llamara (y an la espero) todo el pasado se esfumara en un Te Quiero. . . . 6-12-36

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that she had fallen, full of regret and abandoned old. I would not waste my words in vain jealousy, nor would I gloat a vindictive sword beneath blue sky canopy. The two of us would hear the melodies of my entreaty that in the end her blue eyes returned to me. Oh! If I could find her once more on my way, all, all I would forget and more for her love today. If her soul would come and call (and still I await her, too) all the past would happily fall with oneI love you. . . . 6-12-36

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Vuelve la amada
Ojos mos, ojos mos, digan, digan por piedad, digan, digan que gozaron otra vez de su beldad; mis odos, mis odos, (alabado sea Dios) que hoy escuchan los acordes musicales de su voz. Que ha tornado, que ha tornado, la que vi marcharse ayer, y cre que nunca, nunca, la vera ms volver. Labios mos, labios mos, callen, callen por piedad; no, no digan que me quiso, labios clidos, callad. Ni un suspiro, ni un suspiro, que mi amada ya olvid las palabras que le dije, las miradas que me di. Sus caricias, cual los cantos que en antao le cant, los arrebat el pasado y el pasado ya se fu. Lloren campos, lloren cielos, llore todo como yo que su cuerpo a m ha venido pero su alma su alma no! . . . 7-8-36
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My Beloved Returns
Eyes of mine, eyes of mine, tell me, for Gods sake, tell me, tell me, tell me you entwined once more in her beauty; ears of mine, ears of mine, (praise be to the Lord) for today you hear the chime of her musical word. She has arrived, she has arrived the one I saw leave yesterday, and that never, never could I believe Id see her back again today. Lips of mine, lips of mine, be quiet, for Gods sake be quiet; no, do not say she loved me fine, warm lips, be silent. Not a whisper, not a whisper that my beloved forgot to see the words I said to her, the looks she gave to me. Her caresses, like the song blasts I sang to her yesterday, were stolen by the past and the past is no longer here. Cry fields, cry sky, everything cry like I do that her body has returned to lay but her soulher soul has not come, too! . . . 7-8-36
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Primer amor
Cruzan otra vez por mi camino los pies a los cuales me arroj los labios que yo quise cuando nio, los ojos en los cuales me mir. Por qu te sonrojas? Y tu triste mirada dirijes hacia el pie? Te da vergenza decir que me quisiste? O te hiere el pensar que yo te am? No recuerdes, por Dios, nuestros antaos! La ilusin de esos tiempos ya se fue. Ahora . . . soy un viejo de veinte aos. Tu edad? Nunca la supe y no la s. . . . 4-23-36
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First Love
They pass again across my path the feet to which I threw myself the lips that I loved throughout my youth the eyes in which I saw myself. Why do you blush? And sheppishly turn your face to the floor? Are you ashamed to say you loved me? Or does it hurt to think I loved you more? By God, dont you remember our yesterday! The illusion of those times now dead. Today . . . I am old at twenty. Your age? I dont know and never did. . . .4-23-36
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Lamour
Si te hablan de amor, rete de ellos! Es amor ilusin que se deshace; el hombre es bestia burda, sus deseos tu gracia frgil no los satisface. Te miente! Y despus abandonada te deja con tu enjambre; vuelve cacho a turbar la silencia madrugada con risadas obscenas de borracho. Sal para tu jardn, donde derrama su pura luz el cielo de zafiro; mira en la mustia rosa aquella araa que labra solitaria su tejido. . . . 1-18-36
(Pensamiento de Francis Jammes.)
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Lamour44
If they speak of love, laugh at them! Love is an illusion that fades away; man is a crude beast, and his whim your fragile grace can never satisfy. He lies! And abandoned hell let you suffer alone; until his banter disturbs the silent dawn with drunk and dirty laughter. Salt for your garden, where rains the purple light of a sapphire sky look at that spider as the rose wanes that works its web solitarily. . . . 1-18-36
(After Francis Jammes.)
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Flor de burdel
Pobre mujer! Mujer de los burdeles, vestida y coloreada cual el payo, ocultas tu desdicha y tu desmayo tras juergas, carcajadas y oropeles. Jardn sin rosas, colmenar sin mieles, lirio marchitado en pleno mayo, no quiso Dios que antes partiera un rayo al vil que te arroj a los fangos crueles. Flor de burdel! El ave pasajera que aora el nido mas volver no alcanza, alma extraviada y ya sin esperanza. Ah, cul sera tu ilusin primera? Dnde ser tu tierra tan lejana? De quin hija sers? De quin hermana? . . . 7-1-36
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Bordello Flower45
Poor girl! Bordello girl, dressed and painted like a clown, you hide your pain and misfortune behind parties, laughs and tinsel. Garden without roses, hive without honey swirl, a lilly in mid May that is withered down, because God did not lift a hand to beat the cruel beast who hauled you to hell. Bordello flower! Bird with no rope longing for a nest it can never reclaim, lost soul and now without a hope. Oh! What was your first dream? Where could your distant land slope? Whose daughter could you be? Sister to whom? . . . 7-1-36
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In memoriam In Memory

Crossing the Bar

El crepsculo . . . del vspero el fulgor . . . y un claro llamar! Que la barra no llore su dolor cuando yo salga para el mar. Que sea el flujo lento en su mover, muy hondo para ruido y espumez, cuando lo que del mar obtuvo ser al mar vuelva otra vez. El crepsculo . . . y el toque de oracin . . . y despus la obscuridad! Y que no se entristezca el corazn cuando vaya yo a embarcar. Porque aunque lejos, sobre el hondo mar, sobre las aguas, yo navegar, con mi Piloto esprome enfrentar cuando la barra ya cruzada est. . . . primavera 1933
(Pensamiento de Lord Tennyson.)
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Crossing the Bar46

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar. . . . Spring 1933
(By Lord Tennyson.)
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Soneto escrito el 25 de mayo

Cual fruta que por modo artificial en poco tiempo adquiere madurez, tu mente nunca supo la niez, aun joven fuiste serio y judicial. Cual flor de nacimiento tropical que pronto se abre y con igual presteza marchita y triste inclina la cabeza al polvo que hace todo todo igual. Igual que flor o fruta tu vivir muy prontotermin en la muerte fra. No temas que al dejar de existir mi voz no ms entona tu elega Los cielos, al saber de tu partir, lloraron en torrentes este da! . . . 5-25-33
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Sonnet Written on the 25th of May47

Like a fruit through means artificial is rushed to reach its ripeness, your mind never wore a childs dress, though young you were serious and judicial. Like a flower born in places tropical that quickly blooms and with the same promptness withers and bows its head in sadness towards the dust that makes allall equal. Same as fruit or flower your living quickly concluded in cold death. Do not fear that after you cease being your elegy will stop giving my voice breathe the heavens that learned of your leaving, cried that day a torrential wreath! . . . 5-25-33
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Epitafio
Gastse muy pronto la vela encendida, All por el aire la esencia veloz Botando la tierra subi dolorida Robando a nosotros su faz y su voz. Instante tan corto que encierra una vida; Es hilo de seda que al alma guard. La muerte le entabla la lucha reida . . . Mas, dbil el hilo, la muerte triunf. . . . junio 1933

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Epitaph48
Gone too quickly the burning flame, Away through the air his speeding essence Bouncing the earth it arose in pain Robbing us of his face and his voice. Instant so short where life is contained; Enclosed in silk thread the soul is held. Lifes ferocious fight by death detained. . . More, the thread was so weak, death prevailed. . . . June 1933

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Rosa
Rosa que en la tumba naces de mi desdichada hermana! Dime, flor de brava grana dime, cundo te deshaces? Rosa . . . de su cuerpo brotas; eres ser de sus despojos. Quiz de sus bellos ojos nacen tus hojitas rotas. Mas, aunque cortarte quiero yo te dejo; que a la hermosa pronto la recoge, rosa, el Eterno Jardinero. . . . verano 1933
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Rose49
Rose that in the grave is born of my unfortunate sister! Tell me, brave seeded flower tell me, when will you be undone? Rose . . . from her body you flow; a being made of her remains. Perhaps it is from her lovely eyes that your torn leaves grow. But, though I want to prune I let you be; for the beautiful beloved, rose, will soon be harvested, by the Eternal Gardener soon. . . . Summer 1933
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A Blanca
En tierra lejana tengo yo una hermana. . .

Quisiera que mi genio de poeta fuera ms vasto que el azul lejano; as pudiera mi inspirada mano decir lo que se mueve en mi alma inquieta. Mi voz volara entonces cual saeta en busca de tu sombra en el arcano. Pero mi sueo de cantarte es vano porque el dolor del cuello me sujeta. Cual golpe de pual, mortal y rudo, hiere mi pecho tal angustia fra que me congela y que me deja mudo. Y una lgrima, clara como el da, resblase al papel blanco y desnudo . . . mi nico tributo y poesa. . . . marzo 1934
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To Blanca50
In distant lands I have a sister . . .

I wish that my poetic talent were greater than the distant blue sky; this way my inspired hand could say what moves inside my restless spirit. My voice would fly like an arrow sent to search for your shadow in the past gone by. But my dream of singing to you is obsurdity because the pain in my brain does not relent. Like a daggers stab, mortal and brute, it wounds my chest with such cold agony that freezes my hand and leaves me mute. And a tear, clear as the day sky, slides down to the paper white and nude . . . my only tribute and poetry. . . . March 1934
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La voz rebelde The Rebellious Voice

Rima (VIII)
Id y venid, las ondas de los mares; romped sobre las playas en espuma. Toda la dicha del vivir se esfuma; sed lentos y sed tristes mis cantares. Id y venid, las ondas de los mares; romped sobre las playas en espuma. . . . 6-26-36

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Rhyme (VIII)51
Do come and go, you ocean waves; break, you, over the beaches in foam. All the joy of living vanishes; do be slow and sad, too, my songs. Do come and go, you ocean waves; break, you, over the beaches in foam. . . . 6-26-36

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Lgrimas de ceniza
Noche domina al cielo; sobre sus campos pisa . . . lgrimas sin consuelo, lgrimas de ceniza . . . Golpe que se ha curado deja sus cicatrices; flama que se ha apagado deja cenizas grises. Smbolos del quebranto? del arrepentimiento? signos de amargo llanto? Eso no es lo que siento. Hay lgrimas de fuego que de pasin se exprimen; hay lgrimas que luego de ese calor se eximen, lgrimas apacibles, mudas, silencias, fras, de penas indecibles, lgrimas cual las mas. . . . agosto 1933
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Tears of Ash
Night dominates heaven; over dark fields it marches . . . tears without consolation, tears of ashes. Blow that has healed leaves scar lashes; flame that has extinguished leaves grey ashes. Symbols of suffering? Or repentance? Signs of bitter weeping? That is not what I sense. There are tears of fire that from passion are squeezed; there are tears that later from that heat are released, gentle tears, mute, silent, frozen, of untold sorrows, tears like mine. . . . August 1933
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Letana
Lento, lento va mi canto, nada, nada de alegra; este mes y en este da fu la fecha en que nac. Lenta, lenta va mi vida, tanta lgrima y gemido que si no hubiera nacido no tuviera que sufrir. . . . 9-3-34
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Litany52
Slow, slow goes my song, nothing, nothing of joy; this month and on this day was the date I was ushered. Slow, slow goes my life, so many tears and a moan that if I had never been born I would not have suffered. . . . 9-3-34
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Rima (IX)
Duran nuestras vidas una hora y nuestro ser, cual nota de la ctara arrancada, muere al nacer. Se pierde en el fondo de la nada cual voz fugaz. El hombre es una bestia soadora y nada ms. . . . 4-26-36
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Rhyme (IX)53
One hour our lives last and our being, like a note from the ctara torn, dies while birthing. It is lost at the bottom of oblivion like a fleeting voice. Man is a daydreaming beast and nothing else. . . . 4-26-36
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Rima (X)
Ay, las pasiones que moran y se esconden en la calma! cuando los ojos no lloran y se sangra y llora el alma. Ay, las pasiones que moran y se esconden en la calma! Ay, de los labios callados! pero quin calla al recuerdo? por no morderme los labios, pobre corazn, te muerdo. ay, de los labios callados! pero quin calla al recuerdo? . . . 7-15-35

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Rhyme (X)54
Oh, the passions that reside and hide beneath the surface! When eyes hide tears inside and the soul bleeds and cries. Oh, the passions that reside and hide beneath the surface! Oh, of those silent lips! But who keeps memory quiet? To not bite my lips, poor heart, it is you I bite. Oh, of those silent lips! But who keeps memory quiet? . . . 7-15-35

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Rima (XI)
Ah, Dios! Ah, Dios! Qu abismo tan profundo! Ms convencido estoy de que no existes; Cmo puedes permitir en este mundo cosas tan injustas y tan tristes? . . . 7-28-36

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Rhyme (XI)
Oh God! Oh God! What abyss so profound! Im more convinced you dont exist; how can you allow on the ground things so sad and unjust? . . . 7-28-36

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Nocturno
De noche, cuando pongo la cabeza sobre la almohada, mas dormir no puedo, cuando cae el roco en su pureza y el viento va quejndose muy quedo, cual sombras de loco desvaro, cual mirajes en ridos desiertos, veo brillar en torno mo los plidos rostros de los muertos. S, veo las faces luminosas de aquellos que ya son podredumbre y me brindan miradas cariosas, sus ojos anima extraa lumbre. Sern las leves manos de la brisa? la gran tristeza innata de mi alma? mas yo tambin les doy una sonrisa al verles sonrer con tanta calma. Y siempre entre todas se ha lucido de mi hermana menor la faz morena; ha varias noches ya que ha aparecido otra faz nueva, plcida y serena. Malditos los dioses imponentes! la Mano que al vil del golpe esquiva! malhayan mis brazos impotentes! permiten an que un monstruo viva. Y llora mi espritu sombro, florecen en mi alma los desiertos, cuando veo brillar en torno mo los plidos rostros de los muertos. . . . 6-18-36
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Nocturne55
By night, when my head lay on the pillow, but cannot sleep, when dew drops innocently and the wind complains with a weep, like shadows of crazy insanity, like mirages in dry wasteland, I see shine all around me the pale faces of the dead. Yes, I see the luminous faces of those now rotted lame and they offer tender glances, their eyes animate a strange flame. Are they the light hands of a breeze? The great innate sadness of my soul? For I, too, smile to please at seeing the ease of their own smile And always among them all has glowed my younger sisters brown face; for many nights now it has showed a new, placid and serene grace. Damned those imposing Gods! The Hand that dodges the striking evil! Useless my impotent hands! They still allow a beast to live. And my somber spirit will cry, as deserts in my soul bud, while I see shine all around me the pale faces of the dead. . . . 6-18-36
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Rima (XII)
Quisiera llorar pero no puedo! Las lgrimas no acuden a mis ojos . . . Dios Impasible! Eres destino ciego o nio cruel que juegas con nosotros? A media noche, cuando solo estaba en el silencio muerto de mi alcoba una noche de abril de luna clara, cuando reina el Sueo entre las fras horas, cuando lloran las almas destrozadas, y el mismo viento que no siente llora, viendo en cruento desfile mi quebranto, Llora! le dije al corazn herido. Y el corazn me contest as sollozando Ya no puedo llorar . . . ahora maldigo! . . . 4-20-36
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Rhyme (XII)56
Id like to cry but I cant! Tears dont well in my eyes . . . Uncaring God! Are you blind fate or a cruel child who plays with us? At midnight, while all alone in the dead silence of my room one April night with a clear moon, when sleep reins amid the cold gloom, when all the shattered souls are crying, and the very windthat cannot feelcries, too, at seeing my bloody sorrow parading, Cry!I told my wounded heart to do. And he answered back sobbing I can no longer cry . . . Curse is all I do! . . . 4-20-36
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Dcimas57

Dcimas
A don Gonzalo Casas Gutirrez

Gracias a Ud., don Gonzalo, amigo desconocido, mil perdones yo le pido por mi verso trunco y malo. 1. Dcimas nunca escrib: he usado el heroico verso, el soneto corto y terso, romances aqu y a all; y nunca, nunca cre que yo llegara a usarlo mas sus versos recib y mi entendimiento ralo espoleo al dar aqu gracias a Ud., don Gonzalo. 2. La fama es una mujer de esas de vida galante, el triunfo es un vil bergante de nefando proceder; qu lejos est el ayer, Las estrellas ay, qu lejos! desde este mundo dormido do las miramos perplejos las miramos perplejos amigo desconocido.
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Dcimas58
For Don Gonzalo Casas Gutirrez

Many thanks, Don Gonzalo, sir, my unknown friend of rhymes, I ask your pardon a thousand times for my bent and very bad verse. 1. These dcimas I never wrote: I have used the heroic word, the sonnet terse and short, here and there a romance I wrote; and never, never had I thought that I could write it any worse then your verse I read alot and my weak skills at writing verse I now spur and struggle to plot Don Gonzalo, many thanks, sir. 2. Fame is a woman truly grand like those of high society, triumph a vile scoundrel for he is very poorly born and bred; yesterday is so far away, The starsOh, how far removed! from this sleeping world today where we look at them amazed we look at them with amazed my unknown friend of rhymes.
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3. Es verdad que yo anot lo que triunfo le han llamado, que de bronce bien tallado la medalla ma fu; mas la verdad le dir: rey tuerto entre ciegos fu pues en la tierra de aqu se echa la Lengua al olvido . . . dejar de hablar as, mil perdones, yo le pido. 4. Ya mundano o sideral, siempre busco ir sereno, corriendo tras de lo bueno y topando con el mal; espero en mi capital contar ya con otro amigo y por mi camino sigo tratando de hacer un halo (tratando de hacerlo digo) con mi verso trunco y malo. . . . 7-11-36
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3. It is true that I have attained what some have called fortune, cast in fine bronze with fashion the medal is mine I proclaimed but the real truth I must exclaim: one-eyed king amid the blind I sat because on this earth I must note the Tongue is thrown without designs . . . But Ill stop talking of this rut, I ask your pardons a thousand times. 4. Whether mundane or celestial, I always seek to be serene. running after things pristine and bumping into evil; I hope that in my capital to come across another friend and on my journey I will wind trying to make a starburst (trying to make it so I said) with my bent and very bad verse. . . . 7-11-36
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Lenvoi59

Al cumplir veintin aos

Detente, Tiempo, en tu veloz carrera; mira hacia atrs a mi niez perdida; detn an la mano que convida hacia el futuro ignoto que me espera. Quin fuera mago! quin un sabio fuera para leer el libro de la Vida, para encontrar la clave all escondida que todo el Gran Secreto me dijera! . . . Mi alma, si por tu camino triste se derrumban tus sueos y tus dioses, olvdalos. Recuerda que eres fuerte. Calza de seda pero hierro viste; y sigue as hasta que tu planta poses en los portales fros de la Muerte. . . . 9-3-36
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Upon Turning Twenty-One60

Stop, Time, your fast race; turn back to my lost infancy; stop, too, the hand that invites me towards the unknown future maze. Oh, that I were a magician! Someone wise so the book of Life would open to me, so I could find the hidden key and the Grand Plan I could recognize! . . . My soul, if on your sad trail your dreams and gods collapse, forget them. Remember your strength. Wear silk for shoes but dress in steel and continue until your sole steps through the cold portals of Death. . . . 9-3-36
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Addenda

El Pocho61 (1836-1936)
En tu propio terruo sers extranjero por la ley del fusil y la ley del acero; y vers a tu padre morir balaceado por haber defendido el sudor derramado; vers a tu hermano colgado de un leo por el crimen mortal de haber sido trigueo. Y si vives acaso ser sin orgullo, con recuerdos amargos de todo lo tuyo; tus campos, tus cielos, tus aves, tus flores sern el deleite de los invasores; para ellos su fruto dar la simiente, donde fueras el amo sers el sirviente. y en tu propio terruo sers extranjero por la ley del fusil y la ley del acero. (1936)
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Alma pocha62
Alma pocha ensangrentada, la sufrida, la olvidada, la rebelde sin espada; alma pocha salpicada de tragedia y humorada, alma pocha. En tu propio terruo sers extranjero por la ley del fusil y la ley del acero; y vers a tu padre morir balaceado por haber defendido el sudor derramado; vers a tu hermano colgado de un leo por el crimen mortal de haber sido trigueo. Y si vives acaso ser sin orgullo, con recuerdos amargos de todo lo tuyo; tus campos, tus cielos, tus aves, tus flores sern el deleite de los invasores; para ellos su fruto dar la simiente, donde fueras el amo sers el sirviente. y en tu propio terruo sers extranjero por la ley del fusil y la ley del acero. De este modo habl el destino en la jornada tejana y la boca se envilece con el nombre de Santa Anna! Alma pocha vas llorando la vergenza mexicana.
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Alma pocha, alma noble y duradera, la que sufre, la que espera. (1936)

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Annotations
1

As noted in the introduction, we have chosen to translate adolescencia as youth due to the collections overall existentialist concerns, instead of adolescent, which has the more sociological and medical resonance Paredes invokes in the second paragraph of his Prologue. In our translation of the Prologue, however, we used adolescent and youth based on the specific context of its usage. In some cases, he describes adolescencia in terms of a physical phenomenon, that is, a stage in ones biological and social life. In others, the term is best translated by the more general temporal and connotative youth, which allows for the metaphysical and existentialist themes that run throughout the text. In the second paragraph, we chose to translate nio, which in Spanish refers to children of either gender, as boy because of the autobiographical nature of the Prologue and subsequent verse. There is no date for the Prologue noted in the original manuscript, however, we assume that it must have been written after the latest dated poem, Al cumplir veintin aos / Upon Turning Twenty-One, which is the final composition of the collection that bears the date September 3, 1936. All extant bibliographical materials date the publication of the manuscript as 1937, several months after the last poem. 2 A possible translation of this subheading would be Patriortic Lyric. However, we chose Lyre for several reasons. First, it alludes to the musicality that informs much of the verse in the manuscript overall. Moreover, stringed instruments based on the lyre such as the guitar and violin figure prominently in Paredes verse. The use of Lyre also seems particularly appropriate given the neoclassical (and perhaps nascent Orientalist) semiotics of the cover, which features an oil lamp exuding a trail of smoke that travels up towards a satyr playing a flute. Lyre gains added resonance from the pun created by lyre and liar. A significant aspect of Paredes project as an intellectual and artist was the retelling of history from a variety of perspectives, which inevitably raises truth as a trope. Finally, it is important to note that in some colloquial 175

contexts, lira also means guitarra, or guitar, which was one of Paredes favored instruments and the instrument used to play Mexican folk ballads like corridos. 3 Paredes attempt to create a consonant rhyme scheme of alternating lines in the original Spanish poem is not preserved in lines 3 and 15. In our translation, we took the liberty of rhyming alternating stanzas. Our use of contractions in lines 5 and 7 are more informal than the original but their use enables us to facilitate ryhythm. This preference for rhythm is important given that this entire section is inaugurated by an allusion to music (lira). On line 4, we chose to translate the Spanish term patria as homeland instead of country because the former connotes more intimacy between the poetic persona and Mexico, which is the land being claimed. As noted in the introduction, we have chosen to use country in some poems when the connotation of the poem involved a simple description of Mexico as a political entity separate from the poetic personas claim to it. See the introduction for further discussion of this trope. On like 14, we used foreign (estranjera) instead of strange for Paredes term extraa because foreign has the geopolitical resonance that Paredes is invoking while also preserving the sense of strangeness and alienation. 4 The assonant rhyme scheme of this poem is not preserved in lines 9 and 11 (ababab / cbdbeb), although line 11 does have a consonant rhyme with its corresponding line 7 that opens the second stanza. Our translation recuperates Paredes apparent intention of rhyming alternating lines while also attempting to replicate the rhythm of the overall poem, which connotes song. For a discussion of the song trope, see the introduction. The term montes on line 7 literally means hills, but the context appears to suggest the somewhat false cognate, mountains. Also, we translate the line as crowned with alabaster even though Paredes characterization uses an irregular article de instead of con (with), which would be more syntactically sound in Spanish. We made slight syntax changes in line 10 to preserve the new rhyme scheme. We translate poesa in Paredes original footnote as poem since the reference is to the specific poem even though poesa also has a broader plural resonance in Spanish. 5 The original Spanish title of this poem presents several translation options. The Spanish term illusin is somewhat of a false cognate for illusion, which has a slightly negative connotation in English. The poems tone actually vacillates between a somber expression of longing (such as an illusion) and a celebratory affirmation of the poetic personas Mexicanness (more of a dream or vision). We have chosen to use the word illusion in order to preserve the ambiguity that, in the context of the overall corpus, is distinguished by the teleology of exile literature. Indeed, even though 176

Paredes was born and raised on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border, his themes still resonate with the ethos of the school of Mexican literature and culture known as Mxico de afuera, or Mexico from afar. That is, the poets claims to affiliation always already are surrounded by the aura of nostalgia that belies the realities of Chicana/o deterritorialization. In immigrant and exile literature, of which this text is related, longing is accompanied by realizations that this longing also implies loss and an elusive, if not illusionary, or perhaps even delusional, hope of reclamation. We have attempted to replicate the rhyme scheme of the original Spanish poem, which involves rhymes between the first and fourth, and also the second and third lines of eacg stanza (abba /cddc, etc.). This required strategic syntax and word choice changes. Other translation challenges arise from Paredes unorthodox spelling. For instance, on line 4, ha tiempo, should be spelled a tiempo. If the line is meant to suggest exasperation or a lament, such as all this time or such time, what a time, or even so much time, then it normally would have been spelled as qu tiempo! or tnto tiempo! On the other hand, the ha might suggest the simple passage of time, as in que ha pasado tiempo, or so much time has passed. We used the former option. Paredes uses this ambiguous term in other poems, which we similarly translated in context. The Spanish term raza also is a false cognate of race. The term denotes people while still connoting a culturally, ethnically, and perhaps even biologically distinct race. Nonetheless, we have chosen to use race in order not to lose the allusions to race and racial conflicts that permeate throughout Paredes poetic, literary, and scholarly corpus. The nopal, or prickly pear cactus, is a specific type of cactus. We have chosen to use the Spanish term because it is common knowledge in South Texas. The alternativesprickly pear or cactusfurther detract from the rhythm of the poem. On line 6, in order to preserve the rhyme, we have replaced the original sajon with English instead of the more literal Saxon. Sajn is commonly used by Paredes to refer to Anglo Americans and Euroamericans in general in this collection, whereas in the poems included in Between Two Worlds, he uses the epithet gringa. On line 13, we translate querellas as in disdain because the context suggests more of a complaint than desires or wants, which are the literal meanings of the original Spanish term. On line 28, we chose to use neuter pronouns in the English translation except when the gendered Spanish pronouns refer to a specific person. Dr. Nemesio Garca Naranjo was a former member of Mexican President Victoriano Huertas cabinet during the Mexican Revolution. He was originally from Monterrey, Nuevo Len, and was known as a political reactionary. After the fall of Huertas regime, Garca Naranjo went into exile and settled in San Antonio, Texas, where he became a patron of Mexican culture 177

and the arts, especially of young Mexican and Mexican-American poets. Neither the text of the presentation alluded to above, nor any correspondence between Paredes and Dr. Garca Naranjo, has been found in the Amrico Paredes Papers. The Garca Naranjo Papers are archived with Arte Pblico Press at the University of Houston. 6 The rhyme scheme in the original Spanish is highly irregular (abbba / cdcaccaadef, etc.). Nonetheless, there is an internal rhythm to the poem that we tried to preserve in our translation, which roughly revolves around a consonant rhyme scheme of alternating lines. The Spanish vago on line 9 could be an abbreviation of vagabondo, which suggests a vagrant. However, we chose the term wandering because the English cognate, vagrant has too many negative connotations that do not apply to the heroic subject of the poem, which ultimately is a paean to General Simon Bolivar, the 19th-century Venezuelan who envisioned a unified Latin American nation. We also took other liberties with tense and plurals to accentuate the rhythm and epic heroic tone of the poem. 7 La Chinaca alludes to a style of dress known as La China Poblana, which roughly translates as the Puebla Chinese Style. According to Ramn Saldvar (2006), this style apparently arose in the 19th century as a peudoindigenous cultural challenge to the sympathizers of French occupation of Mexico. We decided to preserve the title in Spanish because it is a commonly understood folk form, style and song. The Paredes Papers contain a playbill that also indicate this to be the moniker of a famous Mexican singer who may have inspired the poem (see Figure 18). Since the consonant rhyme scheme of the original Spanish is not preserved throughout the poem, we sought to mimic the rhythm of the poem instead of attempting to replicate the alternating stanza rhymes. On line 5, we chose to use the Spanish term ranchera, for reasons explained in the introduction. This popular Mexican musical form is distinguished by its mariachi string and horn accompaniment. Its lyrics usually span a broad range of topics, but they always maintain a regular scheme: verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse. The zenzontli referenced on line 40 is the indigenous name for a Mexican blackbird that belongs to the Passeriformes genus. This bird has brownish or grayish plumage and a white belly and is renowned for imitating the songs on other birds. The term remexicana, which appears throughout the poem, is translated as a superlative. That is, instead of referring to a specific song or genre, it appears to be a neologism that implies that very Mexican song, or rather, the epitome of Mexican songs. 178

There is an inexplicable space between stanzas 7 and 8 that we attribute to typographical errors. In our version we separate these stanzas. 8 Corridos are octosyllabic acoustic ballads that can be divided into a variety of genres. They usually involve an invocation, in which the singer, traditionally a male, asks permission to recount a tale. This is followed by an exposition, conflict resolution, and a despedida, or farewell, in which the singer closes the song with a didactic commentary on the events recounted by the performance. It is not a danceable form, but rather, usually serves as a form of oral history. As noted in the introduction, Paredes is renowned for his recovering of El corrido de Gregorio Cortez (The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez), which is an epic heroic corrido. Huapangos are a type of tropical son (see below) developed mainly within the coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico, though it also is common in other Mexican states. A traditional huapango usually requires a violin, a jarana (small 8-string solo guitar) and a huapanguera (large guitar). Its topics are as diverse as the son and the New Huapango genre mixes son huasteco with ranchera music. Yucatecas are characteristic of the Yucatan Peninsula in southern Mexico. They regularly keep a simple rhythm and are almost always played by a trio. The son is a popular music genre developed in Mexico during the Colonial period and also various analogues throughout the Caribbean. It includes several main features such as the zapatadeado (heal stomping rhythm) along with a combination of instrumental music and singing. Similar to the corrido, the son is made up of couplets containing verses of eight syllables. 9 The paso doble (roughly translated as two step though it bears little resemblance to the U.S. country music dance form of the same name) is a vivacious march of Spanish origin that is highly popular in Mexico and Latin America. The form is in duple meter and one of its characteristics is its change in colorful modulation. Due to the movements required, the paso doble is considered a fine ballroom dance like the waltz. This poem, which Paredes composed as a variation of the Petrachan Sonnet, has a particularly ironic resonance given its simultaneous rejection and performance of European colonial legacy in the Americas. Paredes is somewhat loose with his invocation of the form; the traditional Petrarchan sonnet is written as abba / abba / cdc / cdc, while Paredes version is written as: abba / abba // ccd / eed. The pattern of our translation is abba / abba / eef / ggh. 10 The Rumba, which also can be spelled Rhumba, is a popular Cuban and Caribbean dance with African roots. Madrigals (roughly translated as morning songs) are short rhyming poetic compositions of seven or eleven syllables. They usually have an amorous theme and are adapted for 179

musical performances with several voices. A typical madrigal is made with two or three stanzas of three verses and two verses with a different rhythm. Aguardiente is an alcoholic beverage made from sugar cane. It is a poor quality drink that also is bitter like whiskey. As with many of Paredes sonnets, this Petrarchan sonnet varies in the final sestet (abba / abba / cdc / dcd). Our translation of this poem corresponds to Paredes rhyme scheme. 11 This Petarchan sonnet begins with the same first line of a similarly-themed poem published in English under the title Night, by the (Harlingen) Valley Morning Star on May 3, 1934. A facsimile of this publication is included as Figure 9. These two poems correspond to several of Paredes Night poems, one of which is included in this section. 12 This English version of El Rio Bravo is Paredes original 1934 composition. According to his footnote in Between Two Worlds, this poem originally was published in the (Harlingen) Valley Morning Star in October 1934, before being reprinted in BTW in 1991. The Valley Morning Star printed several other poems by Paredes, which the poet notes was ironic given that the editors of the paper also were extremely racist at the time. As indicated, the Spanish version of the poem published in Cantos de adolescencia is dated two years later, July 12, 1936. See introduction for further discussion of this poem. 13 This poem appears to have been begun as a sonnet, but ultimately has an irregular rhyme scheme that is recurrent throughout the collection (abba / cddc / effe). We made some tense and syntax changes to approximate the rhythm of the original. 14 This poem has an irregular rhyme scheme in the original (ababced / ceed). Instead of attempting to replicate it, we chose to create a translation that contained its own internal rhythm, which resulted in a slightly different scheme (abbabcd / ceec). 15 As with other Petrarchan Sonnets by Paredes, we made several tense and syntax changes to preserve the form. We chose not to translate tarde as the literal afternoon because other allusions in the poem suggest the time just before nightfall instead of noontime. While Autumns Afternoon has an alliterative sound, Autums Evening is more appropriate because of the somber intimations in the poem. Paredes set this poem to music, and a facsimile of his original score is included as Figure 47. Evidence indicates that Paredes also composed this poem in English, but the version apparently is lost. 16 This is another poem that appears to be modeled on a Petarchan Sonnet. However, Paredes adds an extra line to what would serve as the second quartet. In order to retain the rhythmic pattern we made tense and word choice changes. This included some wide variations, such as adding the 180

adjective holy in line 6, extending meadow holly for prado in line 7, and extrapolating guitar rattles its hollows in line 13, for La guitarra se desata, which roughly translates as the guitar loosens or unleashes. All these changes remain true to the content and context. 17 This poem, an existentialist meditation that recurs throughout the collection, resonates with the despair of Paredes contemporary, Csar Vallejo, whose inaugural collection Heraldos Negros (Black Heralds), which the poet would have known. This poem shares its title with a published English poem that is included as Figure 9. See also Nocturno (Nocturne) in Part VII of the collection. 18 We took various liberties with syntax and in the use of English colloquialisms in translating this canto. We also translated the original rhyme scheme (abbc / abbc) to abab / abab) to give the translation its own internal rhythm. 19 As noted in the introduction, we attempted to parallel Paredes vernacular idiom. Pantaloon is a stock character in Italian Renaissance drama, specifically La comedia del arte genre, which is characterized by its comedic look at love. Pantaloon also appears in Shakespeares play, The Twelfth Night. In this play, he generally is a dim-witted ruffian who feigns sophistication but only succeeds at illustrating his crudeness, arrogance and ignorance. Pantaloon is, in effect, a comedic version of the picaresque antihero. In this poem, we changed the original rhyme scheme (from abba / cddc / aeea to abba / bccb / affa). We also took other liberties with the colloquial spellings in an attempt to approximate Paredes use of vernacular diction. 20 We chose to translate the referent as girl because of the juvenile context of the overall collection. The vernacular English term actually would be white girl, but Anglo would be the closest translation for the 1930s South Texas context of the poems composition. If the referent had been identified more definitively as una mujer, we would have translated the title as For An Anglo Woman. We changed the last stanza of the sestet of the original Petrarchan sonnet (from cdc / dcd to cdc / cdc) to preserve the rhyme. 21 In this poem, we attempted to approximate the diction and tone of the Renaissance neoclassicism that undergirds the theme and style of Paredes original composition. This poem, in fact, appears to arise from Paredes study of the Greek classics as an undergraduate and graduate student. This neoclassical fable, which is undergirded by a carpe diem telos, also illuminates the neoclassical allusion of the original cover. 22 In this translation we do not present a parallel rhyme scheme because it is so irregular (abab / cdcdc / dbeaae / baab) that it appears Paredes was only 181

attemping to rhyme idiosyncratically as opportunity allowed. We did, however, attempt to preserve some links between stanzas, which creates foregrounding effect of the original. We also took some liberties with syntax to create an internal rhythm. 23 This is one of two poems titled Jugete/Toy. To avoid confusion, we have numbered them. This poem has a more systematic rhyme sceme (abba / acca / bddb / beeb / affa), which we attempted to preserve in our translation. This required that we take some liberties with syntax. This poem, like many of the poems from the Lower Rio Grande writers circle discussed in the introduction, ironically includes Orientalist language. As with other poems, we changed Paredes intertextual glosses from boldface to italics. 24 Despite the irregular rhyme scheme (abba / caca / dbdb / caca / ebeb), there is some coherfence within individual stanzas. We chose to preserve as much of the rhyme scheme as possible while still giving the poem its own internal rhythm, which necessitated that we take some liberties with word choice. 25 We chose to preserve the poems rhyme scheme as much as possible, which required syntax, plural and word choice changes, such as using grieve for llora (cry), reef for playas (shores), grieve for sinsabores; and bursts for brotar (emerges). 26 This poem uses vernacular and archaic spellings (ficiste for hiciste, and Corasn for Corazn). There is an apparent typographical error in line 4, (dolo instead of dolor) but this also could be an allusion to an oral tradition, in which the r can be somewhat silent. (This possibility also arises from the vernacular spelling of corazn.) In order to approximate the rhyme scheme of the original Spanish (abba / acca / abba) we made some tactical translation decisions that slightly deviate from the original. These include changing the tense and meaning in lines 4 and 12. Thus, while the literal translation of the line is see the pain you bring me, we chose see the pain you devise and see the wrong you did devise, respectively. 27 Because the rhyme scheme in the original was irregular (abcbb / cdcbb / ebebb) we chose instead to create a more regular internal stanza rhyme (abacc / adacc / aeacc). Here, we were more concerned with rhythm than with rhyme. The term cirios in line 7 is plural for cirio, which is a wax candle. A zephyr is the west wind or any gentle beeze. It also can be an article of clothing made of light material, like a shawl. On line 11 we repeated the phrase to parallel the syllables in the opening lines of the previous stanzas. 28 We preserved the rhyme scheme of the original, which involves a rhyme between the first and fourth, and second and third lines of each stanza. This required several major changes of syntax and vocabulary. On line 3, we changed joven (youth) to lover. This is a significant change but the 182

carpe diem genre also allows for it. On line 4, we changed duele (hurt or injury) to endure. There also are several misspellings in the original. For example, on line 19, criatura (beloved or sweet little thing) should be spelled creatura. 29 The poem begins with alternating rhyming couplets that are broken in the final stanza (abab / cdcd / efef / ghggh). We preserved the rhyme within individual stanzas but changed the last stanza to preserve the translations internal rhythm. 30 We added tart to line 5 to preserve the rhyme even though this term is more of a British colloquialism. The Rima genre that Paredes invokes, however, allows for this intercultural term since the original poem essentially is a love poem to a nubile virgin (virgen anglica). 31 Gustavo Adolfo Becquer was a nineteenth-century Spanish poet. Paredes use of Julia is a reference to Julia Espn, who was the daughter of a prominent muscian and subsequently became the Becquers muse. Although she cared for Becquer, she apparently never considered him a proper suitor. Becquer nonetheless dedicated most of his poetry, especially his short trite love poems, or Rimas, to her. We added some superlatives to the last two lines to preserve the internal rhythm of the translation. 32 This poem is Paredes translation of John Donnes 1616 original of the same title. Paredes translated the poem into contemporary Spanish, but since the poem essentially is the same, we have used Donnes English original instead of translating Paredes version. 33 The original poem uses an assonant rhyme scheme for the first stanza (abab) and a consonant rhyme scheme for the second. We chose to use consonant rhyme scheme in our translation while attempting to preserve the meter and rhythm of the overall composition. This requires dome significant deviation from the original. In the first stanza, we changed the subjunctive tense with an affirmation on line 4, which is suggested by the exclamation marks. On line 2, we used sound for voz (voice), and on line 5 we changed luz de plata (light of silver or silver light) to silver light shade. 34 The rhyme scheme involves rhymes between the first and third, as well as the second and fourth lines in each stanzas, which we preserved. On line 5, si de modo de should be si el modo de, which we took huge liberties for the sake of preserving the tempo. Paredes also uses similar idiosyncratic spellings on line 12, in which he writes de desear instead of al desear, which we translated as for desiring. We also changed astro to stars orbit, which is consistent with the context. Paredes use of the Italian spelling for Beatrice (bee-ah-tree-che) rhymes with desdicha. The reference is to Dantes Beatrice, the poets beloved for whom he traveled to Hell in order to be with her again. Dulcinea is Don 183

Quijotes love interest, or rather, his damsel and muse, in Miguel de Cervantes sixteenth-centry picaresque, Las aventuras de Don Quijote. Dulcinea, who appears as a noble maiden to Don Quijote, who himself is a farmer delusioned into thinking he was a knight from the small village of La Mancha, is in actuality a barmaid in a country inn. Both these references invoke the theme of loss and the attendant pain. They also enable Paredes to create an existentialist mediation on poetry and thus the poem reads as another ars poetica. 35 This Rima is indicative of the love limericks popularized by Becquer. 36 The epigraph from this poem is apparently from a poem by Manuel Cruz, a member of the Lower Rio Grande writers circle discussed in the introduction. The specific poem that Paredes glosses apparently is lost. The consonant rhyme scheme involves the first and third as well as the second and fourth lines in each stanza, which we sought to preserve. 37 The first stanza in this poem is taken from a poem by Roberto Ramrez Ramrez, a childhood friend of Paredes from Brownsville and a member of the Lower Rio Grande Writers circle. This stanza gloss also opens the first of Paredes two poems titled Juguete, which we titled Toy (I). 38 Our translation attempts to preserve the assonant rhyme scheme of the original, which follows an aaba rhyme scheme in the first two stanzas, with the third stanza written as baba for crescendo. However, in order to preserve the rhyme, we Anglicized Carolina as Caroline, which was the referents actual name. As noted in the introduction, Caroline was an Anglo American girl with blond hair and green eyes, and apparently the poets first love interest. He dedicated two planned poetry collections to her, Black Roses and Cantos a Carolina, the later being excerpted in Between Two Worlds. According to evidence in the Amrico Paredes Papers, he continued to write poems to or about her until the mid-1940s, around the time of his first marriage. As noted in the introduction, in an April 18, 1979 journal entry, Paredes later refers to her as a daughter of the enemy. 39 This poem follows a highly irregular yet systematic rhyme scheme (abcb / defe // eghg), which we preserved. 40 We changed the original rhyme (from abba / cddc / effe / bggb, to abba / cddc / effe / agga), to preserve the rhythm in English. In line 3, we refered to the night as ours instead of la bella (the beautiful or the precious), which is consistent with the context. In line 6, we used within instead of cuerpo (body) for the same reasons. 41 We chose to translate horas felices as Good Times instead of the more literal Happy Hours because the former is a more coherent and common idiomatic phrase in English. We preserved the irregular rhyme scheme (abacd / dada / efef / ghgh // ijij / klkl / abacd). The first stanza serves as a 184

refrain that is repreated in the last stanza, and apparently is a gloss from another poem that is not identified. We translated the formal plural you, vosotros, form in lines 22 and 23 with a redundant use of you. 42 This poem has an irregular but deliberate assonant rhyme scheme (abbaab / cddccd / effefe). The first two lines of each stanza form a refrain, and the refrain in the last stanza is a fusion of the first two lines of the stanza. On line 4, we changed abrojos (thistles) to frailties, and on line 15 we extended qu pureza! (What purity!), to Such a pure blush! 43 As with many of Paredes Rimas, this poems rhyme scheme is only partially successful. Paredes intent obviously is to rhyme the first and third lines of each stanza but from the fourth stanza onwards, the rhyme scheme breaks down. We attempted to create internal rhythms within each stanza. 44 Francis Jammes was a French poet and novelist (1868-1938) renowned for his pastoral themes. He was a prominent influence on many pre-WWII poets in Europe and the U.S. 45 Paredes set this sonnet to music and composed a simple Tango beat for the guitar (see Figure 48). Paredes wrote an English version of this poem, which apparently is lost. As noted in the introduction, we translated mujer as girl instead of woman. Paredes age, the context of the poem, and his own attitudes and vocabulary about women expressed in archive materials, suggests that this would be his own English equivalent. We translated payo, which literarlly means rustic, as payaso, or clown, in order to preserve the rhyme. 46 The English version is the original by Alfred Lord Tennyson written in 1889. 47 In line 3 we made a figural translation of tu mente nunca supo la niez (literally, your mind never knew of or had a childhood) to your mind never wore a childhood dress, since the line is more of an idiomatic phrase. On line 4, we translated judicial as judicial instead of the more literal judicious to preserve the rhyme of the Petrarchan sonnet. The poem also uses convoluted tenses, such as in the final stanza where Paredes blends past, present, and future tenses. We approximated the original but privileged the rhyme and syntax of the English. 48 This poem is one of several anagrams Paredes wrote, some of which are embedded in personal letters. We took some liberties in the translation of certain terms in order to preserve the anagram GABRIEL M, as well as the alternating rhyme scheme. No information about the referent was found in the archives. 49 Paredes sister Blanca, pictured with her brother in Figure 30 on the occasion of her First Communion, died in her childhood. Paredes dedicated several poems, including the following poem, To Blanca. 185

50

In line 8 we translated dolor del cuello as pain in my brain instead of the literal pain in the neck, which has a different idiomatic resonance (nuisance) that is inconsistent with the theme of loss. We used brain because the poet seeks to express that neither intellect, body nor artistry are enough to convey the pain of this loss. 51 Paredes uses the formal plural you, or vosotros, conjugation in this poem, which we have approximated with redundant elevated diction. 52 The irregular rhyme scheme of this limerick is nonetheless deliberate (abbc / deec). Pursuant to preserving this rhyme, we changed nac (was born) on line 4 to ushered. 53 In line 3 we use the Spanish ctara since the English word, zithern (or cithern) is so uncommon. As noted in the introduction, the ctara is an ancient Greek stringed instrument of the lyre class similar to a guitar. We preserved the irregular rhyme scheme abcb / cdad by making necessary idiomatic changes. For instance, on line 6, we translated bestia soadora (dreaming beast) to daydreaming beast since this is the correct connotation. 54 In lines 7 and 10, we translated Ay, de los labios callados! as Oh, of those silent lips, because the previous lines suggest the personification of the emotions (las pasiones) and related body parts like lips. The Ay! thus is both an exasperation uttered by the poet but also by the referent, in this case lips. 55 There apparently is a typographical error on line 12 of the original Spanish version. The term anima (animate) should be the plural animan. On line 19, ha varias should be hace or hay, which would translate as there are many. On line 20, we translated otra faz nueva, plcida y serena, as a new, placid and serene grace, since the context alludes more to an aura than a literal face. On line 23, we translated malhayan (they find themselves in a bad position) as useless as this is an idiomatic contraction with no coherent literal translation. As a classical pianist, Paredes would have known of the classical music love song genre known as the nocturne, but he transforms the romantic theme with an existentialist one. As recounted in Note 17 above, this poem is one of Paredes Night poems. 56 Paredes apparently had a Petrarchan sonnet in mind, but since the rhyme scheme of the form is not maintained, we structured the poem around three stanzas with alternate lines rhyming (abab / cdcd / efefef). 57 Dcimas are Spanish stanzas consisting of ten verses of (usually) eight syllables. The form is distinguished by its dialogue with other poets. Indeed, a dcima oftentimes includes a gloss of another poets dcima. The form has a variety of themes and oftentimes is put to accoustic music. This is one of the Mexican folk forms Paredes is renowned for recupering. 186

Paredes, like his relatives and other members of the Lower Rio Grande Writers Circle, was an accomplished writer of dcimas, and his archives include dozens of examples written by him and his poetic compatriots. 58 The opening refrain follows an abba pattern. The complex network of rhymes in all dcimas, which is facilitated in Romance languages like Spanish, varies widely but always involves internally rhymed stanzas, each with at least three different rhymes. This rhyme pattern is difficult to approximate in English, so in order to preserve the rhyme scheme, which is fundamental to the genre, we made selections of words and phrases that sometimes deviate widely from the original. 59 This French term usually is translated as envoy or messenger. This reference has a mulitiplicity of possible meanings, and in this context there also appears to be a neoclassical allusion as well as an existentialist allusion since the succeeding poem concerns the authors journey in life towards death. 60 On line 4, we translated el futuro ignoto que me espera (the unknown future that awaits me) as unknown future maze since the temporal dimension already is established in preceding lines. This enabled us to preserve the Sonnet rhyme scheme of the poem. Not only is the existentialist theme similar to the theme expressed in other poems but Paredes also glosses a preceding Rima in some lines of this poem. 61 Flor y Canto II: An Anthology of Chicano Literature. Eds. Arnoldo C. Vento, Alurista, Jos Flores Peregrino. Austin: Pajarito Publications, 1975. p. 34. 65 Between Two Worlds. Houston: Arte Pblico Press, 1991. Pp. 35-6.

187

Note on Translators
B.V. Olgun was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He received a BA with Honors from the University of Houston and a MA and PhD from Stanford University. He has published poetry in a variety of journals in English and presently is completing two poetry collections, Sombras de Sangre/Shadows of Blood, and In This Corner: Boxing Poems in Prose. He presently works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He teaches Chicana/o, Multi-Ethnic, Latin American and Postcolonial Literatures and has published research articles in journals such as Cultural Critique, American Literary History and Aztln. His book, La Pinta: History, Culture and Ideology in Chicana/o Convict Discourse is forthcoming from the University of Texas Press in 2008. Omar Vsquez Barbosa was born and raised in Mexico City. He received a BA from Shriner University in Kerrville, Texas and a MA in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is an accomplished poet and playwright and has published several poems in Spanish and English in journals in the U.S. and Mexico. He presently is studying film in Barcelona, Spain.

189

Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Series

Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Volume V
Kenya Dworkin y Mndez and Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, Editors
May 31, 2006, 240 pages, Clothbound ISBN: 978-1-55885-371-3, $39.95

Tropical Town and Other Poems

Salomn de la Selva Edited, with an Introduction, by Silvio Sirias
1998, 256 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-235-2, $12.95

Hispanic Periodicals in the United States, Origins to 1960: A Brief History and Comprehensive Bibliography
Nicols Kanellos with Helvetia Martell
2000, 368 pages, Clothbound ISBN 1-55885-253-0, $69.95

History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and around San Antonio
Adina de Zavala; Edited by Richard Flores
1996, 215 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-181-X, $12.95

Firefly Summer
Pura Belpr
1996, 205 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-180-1, $9.95 Accelerated Reader Quiz #35001

Journey to the United States of America / Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de Amrica
Lorenzo de Zavala
English translation by Wallace Woolsey Edited and with an introduction by John-Michael Rivera 2005, 496 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-453-3, $16.95

A Nation of Women: An Early Feminist Speaks Out / Mi opinin sobre las Dew on the Thorn libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer Jovita Gonzlez; Edited by Jos Limn
Luisa Capetillo
English translation by Alan West-Durn Introduction by Flix V. Matos Rodrguez 2004, 224 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-427-4, $16.95 1997, 181 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-175-5, $12.95

Cantares: Canticles and Poems of Youth

Fray Anglico Chvez Introduction by Nasario Garca
2000, 134 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-311-1, $12.95

The Woman Who Lost Her Soul and Other Stories

Jovita Gonzlez; Edited, with an Introduction, by Sergio Reyna
2000, 160 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-313-8, $12.95

Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir

Evelio Grillo Introduction by Kenya Dworkin-Mendez
2000, 152 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-293-X, $13.95 Contains an eight page photo insert

Lo que el pueblo me dice

Jess Coln Edited, with an Introduction by Edwin Karli Padilla Aponte
2001, 272 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-330-8, $12.95

Lucas Guevara
Alirio Daz Guerra English translation by Ethriam Cash Brammer Introduction by Nicols Kanellos and Imara Liz Hernndez
Facsimile edition with illustrations 2003, 336 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-390-1, $12.95

The Way It Was and Other Writings

Jess Coln; Edited by Edna Acosta-Beln and Virginia Snchez Korrol
1993, 128 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-057-0, $12.00

Pioneros puertorriqueos en Nueva York Also available in the original Spanish: 19171947 Joaqun Coln; Lucas Guevara
Preface by Olimpia Coln-Aponte Introduction by Edwin Karli Padilla Aponte
2001, 380 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-335-9, $12.95

Alirio Daz Guerra

Facsimile edition with illustrations 2001, 256 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-325-1, $12.95

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Versos sencillos / Simple Verses
Jos Mart English translation by Manuel A. Tellechea
1997, 128 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-204-2, $12.95

Conflicts of Interest: The Letters of Mara Amparo Ruiz de Burton

Mara Amparo Ruiz de Burton Edited, with an Introduction, by Rosaura Snchez and Beatrice Pita
2001, 672 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-328-6, $17.95

Selected Poems / Poesa selecta

Luis Pals Matos English translation and Introduction by Julio Marzn
2000, 224 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-303-0, $12.95

The Squatter and the Don

Mara Amparo Ruiz de Burton Edited by Rosaura Snchez and Beatrice Pita
1997 (Second Edition), 381 Pages Trade Paperback, ISBN 1-55885-185-2, $16.95

The Collected Stories of Mara Cristina Mena

Mara Cristina Mena Edited by Amy Doherty
1997, 208 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-211-5, $12.95

Who Would Have Thought It?

Mara Amparo Ruiz de Burton Edited by Rosaura Snchez and Beatrice Pita
1995, 298 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-081-3, $12.95

El Lad del Desterrado

Edited by Matas Montes-Huidobro
1995, 182 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-082-1, $10.95

Jicotncal
Flix Varela Edited by Luis Leal and Rodolfo J. Cortina
1995, 164 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-132-1, $10.95

The Account: lvar Nez Cabeza de Vacas Relacin

Edited and translated by Jos Fernndez and Martin Favata
1993, 156 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-060-0, $12.95

The Real Billy the Kid

Miguel Antonio Otero, Jr. Introduction by John-Michael Rivera
1998, 224 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-234-4, $12.95

The Adventures of Don Chipote, or, When Parrots Breast-Feed

Daniel Venegas English translation by Ethriam Cash Brammer Edited, with an Introduction, by Nicols Kanellos
2000, 168 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-297-2, $12.95

Life and Adventures of the Celebrated Bandit Joaqun Murrieta

Ireneo Paz English translation by Frances P. Belle Introduction by Luis Leal
1999, 256 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-277-8, $12.95

Las aventuras de Don Chipote, o, Cuando los pericos mamen

Daniel Venegas; Edited, with an Introduction by Nicols Kanellos
1998, 208 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-252-2, $12.95

El Coyote, the Rebel

Luis Perez; with an Introduction by Lauro Flores
2000, 164 pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-296-4, $12.95

The Rebel
Leonor Villegas de Magnn Edited by Clara Lomas
1994, 297 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-056-2, $12.00

Womens Tales from the New Mexico WPA: La Diabla a Pie

Edited by Tey Diana Rebolledo and Mara Teresa Mrquez Introduction by Tey Diana Rebolledo
2000, 512 Pages, Trade Paperback ISBN 1-55885-312-X, $17.95