Translating fragments of 'Circuito Interior' from Spanish to English

December 8, 2014 4:33 AM

I'm really taken by the poetry of Efrain Huerta, and I would like a fragment of his poem 'Circuito Interior' translated to English.

The opening lines to this poem are quoted in Francisco Goldman's excellent travelogue, The Interior Circuit, but I'm really keen on understanding this particular fragment:

Porque estar enamorado, enamorarse siempre
de una vaga ciudad, es andar como en blanco;
conjugar y padecer un verbo helado;
caminar la luz, pisarla, rehacerla
y dar vueltas y vueltas y volver a empezar

(The entire poem, for context, can be read here.)

There is no English translation of this poem anywhere, so poetic license in translating is most welcome. =)

posted by beijingbrown to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: Nice poem -- thanks for linking to it. My attempt:

Because to be in love, to love forever
A vague city, is like going around blankly
Conjugating and suffering from a frozen verb
Walking the light, stepping on it, remaking it
and wandering and wandering and starting over again

"Dar vueltas" has the meaning of going around in circles or strolling. "Andar" is often translated as "walk" but in Mexico I heard it used more for a generic "go" in whatever mode of transport, and "caminar" was to walk. For example, "andar en bici" is to ride a bike.
posted by ceiba at 5:03 AM on December 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

"Vague" in this case probably means "ill-defined," like DF is.
posted by ceiba at 5:10 AM on December 8, 2014

The idea is that to be in love WITH the vague or ill-defined city is like going around blankly etc. etc.
posted by chainsofreedom at 5:48 AM on December 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That's beautiful. Thanks, ceiba and chainsofreedom!

Quick clarification: Can 'caminar la luz' imply walking IN the light, or THROUGH the light?
posted by beijingbrown at 5:04 PM on December 8, 2014

Since there's no "en" or "por" in "caminar la luz," I'd take it to mean "walk the light," similar to "walk the line," but I'm not a native speaker. I did a Google search of the phrase and found very few hits, with the main hit being another poem, so it's apparently a poetic thing.
posted by ceiba at 10:51 PM on December 8, 2014

Possibly meaning "to travel the light"? As if light were a method of transportation, like a road or a river.
posted by chainsofreedom at 6:09 AM on December 10, 2014 [1 favorite]