Oda a la alegría / Ode to Joy

My host mother and I share a love for Pablo Neruda (she cultivated hers during the Franco years, when such poetry was illegal - incredible, no?) and she showed me this, one of her favorites, this weekend:

ALEGRÍA
hoja verde
caída en la ventana,
minúscula
claridad
recién nacida,
elefante sonoro,
deslumbrante
moneda,
a veces
ráfaga quebradiza,
pero
más bien
pan permanente,
esperanza cumplida,
deber desarrollado.
Te desdeñé, alegría.
Fui mal aconsejado.
La luna
me llevó por sus caminos.
Los antiguos poetas
me prestaron anteojos
y junto a cada cosa
un nimbo oscuro
puse,
sobre la flor una corona negra,
sobre la boca amada
un triste beso.
Aún es temprano.
Déjame arrepentirme.
Pensé que solamente
si quemaba
mi corazón
la zarza del tormento,
si mojaba la lluvia
mi vestido
en la comarca cárdena del luto,
si cerraba
los ojos a la rosa
y tocaba la herida,
si compartía todos los dolores,
yo ayudaba a los hombres.
No fui justo.
Equivoqué mis pasos
y hoy te llamo, alegría.
omo la tierra
eres
necesaria.

Como el fuego
sustentas
los hogares.

Como el pan
eres pura.

Como el agua de un río
eres sonora.

Como una abeja
repartes miel volando.

Alegría,
fui un joven taciturno,
hallé tu cabellera
escandalosa.

No era verdad, lo supe
cuando en mi pecho
desató su cascada.

Hoy, alegría,
encontrada en la calle,
lejos de todo libro,
acompáñame:

contigo
quiero ir de casa en casa,
quiero ir de pueblo en pueblo,
de bandera en bandera.
No eres para mí solo.
A las islas iremos,
a los mares.
A las minas iremos,
a los bosques.
No sólo leñadores solitarios,
pobres lavanderas
o erizados, augustos
picapedreros,
me van a recibir con tus racimos,
sino los congregados,
los reunidos,
los sindicatos de mar o madera,
los valientes muchachos
en su lucha.

Contigo por el mundo!
Con mi canto!
Con el vuelo entreabierto
de la estrella,
y con el regocijo
de la espuma!

Voy a cumplir con todos
porque debo
a todos mi alegría.

No se sorprenda nadie porque quiero
entregar a los hombres
los dones de la tierra,
porque aprendí luchando
que es mi deber terrestre
propagar la alegría.
Y cumplo mi destino con mi canto.

Joy,
green leaf
resting on the window sill
tiny
brightness
newly born
musical elephant,
dazzling
coin,
occasional
fragile gust of wind
but
more often
everlasting bread,
hope realized,
and duty properly done:
I scorned you, joy.
I was given bad advice.
The moon
lured me along its paths.
Ancient poets
lent me their glasses
and I drew a dark halo
around everything I saw,
a black crown on every flower,
a melancholy kiss
on each pair of beloved lips
But there’s still time.
Let me make it up to you.
I thought
the bush caught up in the storm
had only to singe my heart,
the rain had only to drench my clothes
in that crimson land of mourning,
that if I closed
my eyes to the rose
and caressed the open wound,
suffering my share of everyone’s pain that
only then I was aiding my fellow man.
In this I erred.
I had lost my way,
so today I call on you, joy.

You are
as necessary
as earth.

You warm
our hearths
like fire.

You are perfect
like bread.

You are musical,
like the water of a river.

You make gifts of honey
circulating like a bee.

Joy,
I was a moody youth:
I found your mop of hair
shocking.

But when its abundance
showered down on my chest
I discovered it wasn’t true.

Today, joy,
I ran into you on the street,
far from any book.
Come with me:

I want to go with you
house to house,
I want to go from town to town,
flag to flag.
You aren’t just for me.
We will go to islands
and seas.
We will go to mines,
and forests.
Not only will I be greeted
by solitary woodsmen,
poor washerwomen, or gruff and stately
stone-cutters,
all of them bearing your bouquets:
there will also be crowds
and gatherings,
lumberjacks and longshoremen,
and brave boys
fighting their fight.

Around the world with you
and with my song!
With the star’s
winking flight
and the sea spray’s
delight!

I will deliver them all
because to all
I owe my joy.

Let no one question why I should want
to give the world’s wonders
to all mankind:
I learned the hard way
it’s my earthly duty
to spread joy—
and I do this through my song.

I'm not sure about the English translation, maybe I'll try to work on it later. But it was so lovely that my host mom shared this with me, so I thought I should share it with all of you, sooner rather than later. And it reminds me of a cherished friend of mine - I wonder if they can guess who they are?