La casada infiel

A Lydia Cabrera y a su negrita

Y que yo me la lleve al río
creyendo que era mozuela,
pero tenía marido.[JS1]
Fue la noche de Santiago
y casi por compromiso.
Se apagaron los faroles
y se encendieron los grillos.[JS2]
En las últimas esquinas
toqué sus pechos dormidos,
y se me abrieron de pronto
como ramos de jacintos.[JS3]
El almidón de su enagua me
sonaba en el oído,
como una pieza de seda
rasgada por diez cuchillos
Sin luz de plata en sus copas
los árboles han crecido,
y un horizonte de perros
ladra muy lejos del río.[JS4]

Pasadas las zarzamoras,
los juncos y los espinos,
bajo su mata de pelo
hice un hoyo sobre el limo.[JS5]
Yo me quité la corbata.
Ella se quitó el vestido.
Yo el cinturón con revólver
Ella sus cuatro corpiños.[JS6]
Ni nardos ni caracolas
tienen el cutis tan fino,
ni los cristales con luna
relumbran con ese brillo.[JS7]
Sus muslos se me escapaban
como peces sorprendidos,
la mitad llenos de lumbre,
la mitad llenos de frío.[JS8]
Aquella noche corrí
el mejor de los caminos,
montado en potra de nácar
sin bridas y sin estribos.[JS9]
No quiero decir, por hombre,
las cosas que ella me dijo.
La luz del entendimiento
me hace ser muy comedido.[JS10]
Sucia de besos y arena,
yo me la lleve del río.
Con el aire se batían las
espadas de los lirios.[JS11]

Me porté como quien soy.
Como un gitano legítimo.[JS12]
La regalé un costurero
grande de raso pajizo,
y no quise enamorarme
porque teniendo marido
me dijo que era mozuela
cuando la llevaba al río.[JS13]

The Faithless Wife

So I took her to the river
believing she was a maiden,
but she already had a husband.
It was on St. James night
and almost as if I was obliged to.
The lanterns went out
and the crickets lighted up.
In the farthest street corners
I touched her sleeping breasts
and they opened to me suddenly
like spikes of hyacinth.
The starch of her petticoat
sounded in my ears
like a piece of silk
rent by ten knives.
Without silver light on their foliage
the  trees had grown larger
and a horizon of dogs
barked very far from the river.

Past the blackberries,
the reeds and the hawthorne
underneath her cluster of hair
I made a hollow in the earth
I took off my tie,
she too off her dress.
I, my belt with the revolver,
She, her four bodices.
Nor nard nor mother-o’-pearl
have skin so fine,
nor does glass with silver
shine with such brilliance.
Her thighs slipped away from me
like startled fish,
half full of fire,
half full of cold.
That night I ran
on the best of roads
mounted on a nacre mare
without bridle stirrups.

As a man, I won’t repeat
the things she said to me.
The light of understanding
has made me more discreet.
Smeared with sand and kisses
I took her away from the river.
The swords of the lilies
battled with the air.

I behaved like what I am,
like a proper gypsy.
I gave her a large sewing basket,
of straw-colored satin,
but I did not fall in love
for although she had a husband
she told me she was a maiden
when I took her to the river.

---

[JS1] So I took her to the river
believing she was a maiden,
but she already had a husband.

[JS2] It was on St. James night
and almost as if I was obliged to.
The lanterns went out
and the crickets lighted up.

[JS3] In the farthest street corners
I touched her sleeping breasts
and they opened to me suddenly
like spikes of hyacinth.

[JS4] The starch of her petticoat
sounded in my ears
like a piece of silk
rent by ten knives.
Without silver light on their foliage
the  trees had grown larger
and a horizon of dogs
barked very far from the river.

[JS5] Past the blackberries,
the reeds and the hawthorne
underneath her cluster of hair
I made a hollow in the earth

[JS6] I took off my tie,
she too off her dress.
I, my belt with the revolver,
She, her four bodices.

[JS7] Nor nard nor mother-o’-pearl
have skin so fine,
nor does glass with silver
shine with such brilliance.

[JS8] Her thighs slipped away from me
like startled fish,
half full of fire,
half full of cold.

[JS9] That night I ran
on the best of roads
mounted on a nacre mare
without bridle stirrups.

[JS10] As a man, I won’t repeat
the things she said to me.
The light of understanding
has made me more discreet.

[JS11] Smeared with sand and kisses
I took her away from the river.
The swords of the lilies
battled with the air.

[JS12] I behaved like what I am,
like a proper gypsy.

[JS13] I gave her a large sewing basket,
of straw-colored satin,
but I did not fall in love
for although she had a husband
she told me she was a maiden
when I took her to the river.