Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in translation, (CCLXIX): Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (1881 -1958), SPAIN/ANDALUSIA: “Primavera encendida”, “Fired spring”, “O primavară fierbinte”

Primavera encendida –
a Antonio Machado
(Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón,
1881 -1958)

¡Amistad verdadera, claro espejo
en donde la ilusión se mira !
…Parecen nubes
más bellas, más tranquilas.
Siento esta tarde, Antonio,
tu corazón entre la brisa.
La tarde huele a gloria.
Apolo inflama fraternales liras,
en un ocaso musical de oro,
como de mariposas encendidas ;
liras plenas y puras,
de cuerdas de ascuas líquidas,
que guirnaldas de rosas inmortales
decorarán, un día.
Antonio, ¿Sientes esta tarde ardiente,
mi corazón entre la brisa?”

Fired Spring
(to Antonio Machado)
(Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón,
1881 -1958)

Real friendship, clear mirror
where the illusion looks itself!…
…They look like more beautiful, calmer clouds.
I feel this evening, Antonio,
your heart in the breeze.
The evening smells of glory.
Apollo inflames brotherly lyres,
in a musical sunset of gold,
like fire butterflies;
full and pure lyres,
of liquid embers ropes,
which garlands of immortal roses
will decorate, one day.
Antonio, do you feel this burning evening,
my heart in the breeze? ”

O primavară fierbinte
(lui Antonio Machado)
(Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón,
1881-1958)

O prietenie pură – o oglinda pură
Unde iluziile se privesc în faţă…
Reflectând o imagine mai frumoasă, mai senină.
Antonio, astă seară
Îmi simt inima luând avânt.
Adierea de seară are un parfum de glorie.
Apollo struneşte lira sa,
În apus de soare, cu lauri de aur
Ca nişte fluturi de foc;
Va fi o zi vibrând în sunet de liră,
Coarde de chihlimbar
Ce vor fi împodobite, într-o bună zi,
Cu ghirlande de trandafiri nepieritori.
Antonio, simţi, cumva, în seara asta caldă,
Inima mea fierbinte, în adierea vântului?

Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2014 Copyright Constantin ROMAN

SHORT BIO:
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón
Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1956. One of Jiménez’s most important contributions to modern poetry was his advocacy of the French concept of “pure poetry.Upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he and Zenobia went into exile in Puerto Rico, where he settled in 1946. Jiménez was hospitalized for eight months due to another deep depression. He later became a Professor of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Puerto Rico. The university later named a building on campus and a living-and-learning writing program in his honor. He was also a professor at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. While living in Coral Gables he wrote “Romances de Coral Gables”.

In 1956, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature; two days later, his wife died of ovarian cancer. Jiménez never got over this loss, and he died two years afterwards, on 29 May 1958, in the same clinic where his wife had died. Both are buried in his hometown of Moguer, Spain.A quotation from Jiménez, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way,” is the epigraph to Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451.

Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of ’98.