Hymn to Manco Inca (If you piss in the air, hope the wind doesn't change ((He wanted them to feel the immanent teeth of the Incas)) Memory must now turn to far salted times, after the battle and retreat of Manco Inca, at Ollantaytambo"who crossed the great Bridge, at the Urubamba River. At once, like roots extending from a tree"came the conquistadors after the Inca King, brother to Atahualpa. 'Hail! Blessed Lord of he Land,' is what he expected from the Chachapoyanus, conquered by the Inca's like many tribes throughout Peru: "He then had him sit down, the Great Leader of the Chachapoyanus and Manco Inca by his side"given a hostile reception for his ancestors past and his evil deed upon his people: thus, he would not listen to the Monco's request, to fight the conquistadors (it is fair to say, half of Peru loathed the Inca race, more than invaders, "Spain's unholy face))thus, Manco knew the: battles, the wars the chase with Span was lost)) 'Sing, O' Sing clear with your voice, a song: Chachapoyanus, who have longed with dark eyes, for revenge; sing for now you sit by the wild beast, who wishes to be your friend; sing, O sing sweet revenge.' It came to"Manco Inca, threw the Chachapoyanus Leader over the edge of the Great Bridge"perhaps to show, per haps for a show, one last time: the immortal teeth of the Inca. #1066 1/8/06 A short Commentary on Translating by the Author: I've seen much translating in poetry, into many languages by so called expert poets, when it should have been down in collaboration with those speaking the tongue; in any case, to my point: in my translations, I have two people of the same tongue review them, one to translate, the other to edit the translation; and for me to review if it remains a poem or not. The Spanish you read by me is Peruvian Spanish, if indeed you can tell all that much from: Mexican, Spain, Central and South American Spanish speaking Countries"but there is a difference, and one should know that. I do not claim to do otherwise. On another note, it is not wise to translate the untranslatable, and many poets, as well as other areas of translation, people in general, try, but in poetry it is twice as hard, for it is the finer part of English, and many poems are not translatable, thus the end product is not poetry at all, it is whatever it is, prose: for there is no symmetrical or metrical voice in the structure. It violates the flow on ever corner. Out of my 1100-poems, I've translated about 265, or 20%; take or give whatever you wish. We can lose the beauty of the language in a bad translation, so often times it is simply better to do a reporting narrative, thus, save the reader from struggling with what really isn't. |
