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In this episode of Elixir, Helen is talking to Carlotta about the poem ‘Yo misma fui mi ruta’ by the Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953)
Carlotta and Helen explore themes of identity, belonging, and the personal connection she feels to the poem having travelled to Latin America from the UK before moving to Madrid with her partner. The conversation delves into the significance of following one's internal compass and the impact of our surroundings on personal choices. They also discuss the challenges of translation. In this case, Spanish to English.
Original music by Tom Platts accompanies the readings.
Want to hear more about this story?! Listen to episode 28. The Poem of Cuban Liberation with Raycel (& How Love Took Him Across The World)
Text of the poem:
Yo misma fui mi ruta
Yo quise ser como los hombres quisieron que yo fuese:
un intento de vida;
un juego al escondite con mi ser.
Pero yo estaba hecha de presentes,
y mis pies planos sobre la tierra promisoria
no resistían caminar hacia atrás,
y seguían adelante, adelante,
burlando las cenizas para alcanzar el beso
de los senderos nuevos.
A cada paso adelantado en mi ruta hacia el frente
rasgaba mis espaldas el aleteo desesperado
de los troncos viejos.
Pero la rama estaba desprendida para siempre,
y a cada nuevo azote la mirada mía
se separaba más y más y más de los lejanos
horizontes aprendidos:
y mi rostro iba tomando la expresión que le venía de adentro,
la expresión definida que asomaba un sentimiento
de liberación íntima;
un sentimiento que surgía
del equilibrio sostenido entre mi vida
y la verdad del beso de los senderos nuevos.
Ya definido mi rumbo en el presente,
me sentí brote de todos los suelos de la tierra,
de los suelos sin historia,
de los suelos sin porvenir,
del suelo siempre suelo sin orillas
de todos los hombres y de todas las épocas.
Y fui toda en mí como fue en mí la vida…
Yo quise ser como los hombres quisieron que yo fuese:
un intento de vida;
un juego al escondite con mi ser.
Pero yo estaba hecha de presentes;
cuando ya los heraldos me anunciaban
en el regio desfile de los troncos viejos,
se me torció el deseo de seguir a los hombres,
y el homenaje se quedó esperándome.
Translation of the Poem
I Myself Was My Route
I wanted to be as men wanted
that I was: an attempt at life;
a game of hide-and-seek with myself.
But I was made of presents,
and my feet, flat on the promising land
they couldn't resist walking backwards,
And they kept going, going,
mocking the ashes
to reach the kiss of the new paths.
At every step forward on my way to the front
the desperate flapping of wings tore my back
of the old logs.
But the branch was broken forever,
and with each new lash my gaze grew further apart
and more and more of the distant horizons learned:
and my face was taking the expression that came
from within, the defined expression that appeared
a feeling of intimate liberation;
a feeling that arose from the sustained balance
between my life and the truth of the kiss of the new paths.
Already defined my course in the present,
I felt myself sprout from all the soils of the earth,
of soils without history, of soils without a future,
from the ground always ground without edges
of all men and of all times.
And I was all in me as life was in me...
I want to be as men wanted me to be:
an attempt at life; a game of hide-and-seek with myself.
But I was made of presents;
when the heralds announced me
in the royal parade of old trunks, my
desire to follow men,
and the tribute was waiting for me.
About the poet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_de_Burgos
https://ciudadseva.com/texto/yo-misma-fui-mi-ruta/
