#3 A mis obligaciones

The Barrcast

In this episode, we read Neruda's "A mis obligaciones." Original text: http://www.poemas-del-alma.com/pablo-neruda-a-mis-obligaciones.htm Translation: To my obligations Doing my job stone by stone, feather by feather, winter ends and leaves abandoned sites, dead rooms: I work and work, I ought to replace all this neglect, fill the darkness with bread, replant hope. It's not for me but the dust, the season's nasty rain, I hold nothing back but all of space and there I work, and work, manifesting spring. I have to give everything to everyone every week and every day, a blue gift, a cold leaf from the forest, and come tomorrow I'm already alive while the others immerse themselves in sloth, in love, I'm cleaning my bell, my heart, my tools. I've got dew for everyone. ==EPISODE NOTES== "Tinieblas" derives from the Latin "tenebrae," which also means darkness. The root, "teme-," produces two almost-antonyms: "temeriario," which means acting rashly, audaciously, imprudently (see "temerity" in English), and "temeroso," which means scared. We can think of these as two possible human reactions to darkness. After recording this episode, I found another English translation, which you can find here: https://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/pablo-neruda-two-poems/. While my translation has its moments, I find this one to be way better. My one bone to pick is the line "bearing witness to spring," which eradicates the narrator's agency that I consider so central to the poem.