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César Vallejo

            Deshojación sagrada

      Luna! Corona de una testa inmensa,
que te vas deshojando en sombras gualdas!
Roja corona de un Jesús que piensa
trágicamente dulce de esmeraldas!

      Luna! Alocado corazón celeste
¿por qué bogas así, dentro la copa
llena de vino azul, hacia el oeste,
cual derrotada y dolorida popa?

      Luna! Y a fuerza de volar en vano,
te holocaustas en ópalos dispersos:
tú eres tal vez mi corazón gitano
que vaga en el azul llorando versos!....



                              Sacred Defoliation

      Moon! Crown of an immense head
which you go on shedding in yellow shadows!
Red crown of a Jesus who thinks
tragically sweet of emeralds!

      Moon! Crazed heart, celestial,
why do you row like this, in a cup
full of blue wine, toward the west,
such a defeated and aching ship?

      Moon! And by vainly taking flight,
you holocaust yourself in scattered opals:
you are, perhaps, my gypsy heart
that wanders the blue while crying verses!




Copyright © 2003 César Vallejo and Rebecca Seiferle

About the poet & the translator.

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Issue #32, April, 2003 :
Santa Fe Poetry Broadside.