Pesadumbre

Envuelto en desdichas y dolores,

Hundido en neblina y negrura,

Acercando cada día a la locura,

 Sin ver colores, sin oler olores.

 

Los ojos que me miran no me ven,

Las orejas que me escuchan no me oyen.

La soledad y desazón me roen,

La languidez me hace su rehén.

 

¿Por dónde voy? ¿Por dónde he de ir?

¿Qué fin poseo yo en existir?

¿Al fin habrá en mi camino luz?

 

 ¿Quién soy por en lo nimio subsistir?

¿Quién soy por ser quien tiene que sufrir

Las cargas de tal lacerante cruz?

*******

Enshrouded in adversity and pain,

Immersed in mist and darkness, thick and cold.

No scents to sniff or colours to behold,

I day by day grow more and more insane.

 

The eyes that look at me would see me not,

The ears that listen would not pay me heed.

Unease and solitude upon me feed

Whilst languor holds me hostage as I rot.

 

Where am I going? Nay, where must I go?

What purpose have I in the status quo?

Would in the end there be some light, some gloss?

 

Who am I to live on a wing and prayer?

Who am I to be he who has to bear

The burdens of this lacerating cross?

-EDP

Author's Note

The saddest and heaviest poem in my repertoire.....from the first and hardest of five times I've hit rock bottom

Reviews

[Esteban Morfín]

I love how you are able to keep the escence of the poem in both languages. It is amazing that you are able to translate not just the words but the feelings and the musicality. And at the same time, the poem is entirely different in one language and the other.

Thanks for sharing!

As for yourself, I don't know why you feel like you hit rock bottom, but I do hope it gets better. If it helps in anything, you should know that you have something big inside you, and the profoundity of your thoughts and of your feelings may as well be the very reason of your despair. Big souls are often missunderstood and lonely. Don't back down. Keep on going. You are bigger than your problems.

[emipoemi]

You're definitely write in those last few phrases, but this poem was written in March of 2013 where I wasn't in the best place, and no one seemed to listen any more then as they do now. I've been struggling against these problems and barriers for a decade now, so yeah, I'm at a very demoralizing moment in my fight, and as much I would never stop pressing on, sometimes I stop and wonder what the use is.

But thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed it (I make it a habit to translate my work, as I've read a few English translations of famous Spanish poems that were terrible, and I was like no one is going to butcher the translation of my poems....so that's that)

[H L Rose]

I have read this before! That goes to show how good the musicality is because I remembered it like you would remember the melody of a song you once heard. I absolutely love it. I can only hope to write a poem half as good in this language one day.

The second stanza is my favorite. It especially flows like a song.

Really enjoy reading it

[emipoemi]

So glad you did! Thanks for reading!

(Apparently I had written the translation some time after posting this, and never got around to attaching it, so sorry for misleading you, I'm glad you could understand it without.....and yeah, whenever I read this, I'm so blown away at how good the second stanza is. Well that's the power of the Muses AND the power of sorrow and pain ;) If you keep at the language and at writing, the two should fuse in no time).

[H L Rose]

Here’s hoping!

[Daniel Valentine Rivera]

Que poema tan profundo y lleno de emocion. Ojala que todo mejora! And by the way I admire people who can express themselves in 2 languages! Great poem. :)

[emipoemi]

Muchas gracias!! Muy amable!! Yeah, this was written about 4 - 5 years ago, when things were rather rough (still are, but are getting better than what the poem expresses). Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed it.