Tuesday, September 20, 2011

La luna está mirando me/The moon is watching me

La luna está mirando me
en la día,
una canasta llena a mitad.
Yi el cielo se ve
tan grande hoy
en este camino donde
la luna se vacía luz de paz y amor.

(Rebb reading poem in Spanish. I couldn't figure out how to insert an MP3 file, so here it is if you'd like to listen.)
http://redroom.com/member/rebbecca-hill/media/audio/la-luna-esta-mirando-me-audio

The moon is watching me
In the daytime,
a basket half-full.
And the sky looks
so large today on this road where
the moon empties
light of peace and love.

**

Sometimes my thoughts come to me in Spanish. It reinforces my limited vocabulary and at the same time, it makes me thankful for the words that I do know. I recognize more words in reading and hearing than I can access from my memory alone.

A few years ago I wrote down a simple poem that came to me in Spanish. I can’t remember if I shared it or not. Maybe I did.

Yesterday I had to take my vehicle in to fix a tire that had a screw lodged in it. I only found out about it when I took it for an oil change a few weeks ago. I haven’t driven it much, but I confess I have driven it around town with that screw. It’s fixed now. I took it in and decided to walk briskly to BART and get to work that way. Along the way I took out my notebook—the thoughts and words were coming to me in Spanish. This time, I’m sharing it. I first scribbled it out in Spanish as best I could and then this morning, I rewrote what I had, adding and subtracting to try and get at that moment. I then translated it into English. The feel of translating my own words and thoughts—even if simple—from Spanish to English is quite a feeling—aligning—joining with my Mexican heritage, with my grandparents—indescribable.

p.s. Please forgive me if I’ve made some errors in the Spanish version and feel free point it out.  :)  One more note: One word I had to write in English on the Spanish version to look up because I couldn’t remember was “empties.” The Spanish word that seemed the right one was “se vacía.”

3 comments:

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

I learned some Spanish today from your blog. Thank you.

I think I can remember the title. Mirando sounds close to mirror. And vacio is close to vacate or vacation.

More you write, better you'll be, so please write something Spanish once in a while. More I read, better I'll be in reading, too. I love Spanish. It's romantic and passionate.

keiko amano said...

Rebb,

I love your sweet voice. Your pronunciation was clear and slow enough that I could follow.

Rebb said...

Keiko, I'm glad you learned some Spanish.

Another one came to me today and I will post it. It's very simple. Yes, Spanish feels romantic and passionate.

Ah, thank you...glad you liked my voice too :)