Los besos que me diste mi amor
Son los que me estan matando.
-Los Lobos
I need to learn a Spanish.
English, though an excellent language for expressing what I want to say, has as of late been a little bit of a let down.
There is a brilliant turn of phrase. And a certain quality of form that English is giving me that I enjoy (and don't get me wrong I'm not going to stop writing in it). But the lyric quality of Spanish has something that I just lust after (that or French but Spanish is much more practical where I live). I want to harness something new. I want to take something back.
There is more to it than the words too.
There is a connection that I'm looking for. An ability to connect with a new group of people, or some of the people that I know on a new level.
Like my dad.
My whole life I have stood in awe as he has walked up to a waitress in a restaurant and just ordered his food in Spanish. Flirting and smiling, he becomes a different person. He becomes less cynical and more happy. His whole face lightens when he sees that whoever he is talking to is surprised. Surprised that this man is not just fluent but talks with a flourish.
Most of the time I pick up what he is saying. I know that he is being a flirt, and funny, and that really gets people going. He has a quick wit in English, but I get the feeling it is rapier sharp in Spanish. And I want to have that skill.
Or with S.F.
I know that she speaks Spanish. And I know that she loves the lilting poetic sound of the words. There is more lyric, more breath to it than to English. Such an unlimited and romantic voice. And I want to give her that. I want to tell her that I crave like Neruda. But it sounds so much better when he says it, "Tengo hambre de tu boca, de tu voz, de tu pelo."
I just want that. Not just for me, but for her.
It is a new goal I guess.
File under Virtue.
2 comments:
Levántate conmigo.
Nadie quisiera
como yo quedarse
sobre la almohada en que tus párpados
quieren cerrar el mundo para mí.
Allí también quisiera
dejar dormir mi sangre
rodeando tu dulzura.
Pero levántate,
tú, levántate,
pero conmigo levántate
y salgamos reunidos
a luchar cuerpo a cuerpo
contra las telarañas del malvado,
contra el sistema que reparte el hambre,
contra la organización de la miseria.
Vamos,
y tú, mi estrella, junto a mí,
recién nacida de mi propia arcilla,
ya habrás hallado el manantial que ocultas
y en medio del fuego estarás
junto a mí,
con tus ojos bravíos,
alzando mi bandera.
(as long as i go really, really slow i can get it - mas espacio por favor!)
i guess i should note for those that don't read as much south american socialist love poetry as G and i do that the poem above is from Pablo Neurda, if i had penned it i would have folded up my humble beach chair and gone home.
Post a Comment