The Gentle Hunter
by Guillermo Olivos
She was there, like a nymph
in the forbidden forest,
peaceful in her world
of savage creatures;
suddenly she adverted
a stranger's presence,
and instinctively
she was afraid
of being tamed.
She had been warned:
--there is nothing more
dangerous to the
innocents' freedom,
than being seduced
by the tender manner
of the gentle hunter--
La miró con fingida dulzura recitando
en su mente lo que habría de decir:
"no te asustes linda,
deja que me acerque,
conmigo por siempre
segura haz de estar;
cogidos de la mano
caminaremos juntos,
por nuevos senderos
que te han de gustar."
Fearful, she tried to run
away from the stranger;
she did not want him closer,
she wished not hear his voice.
But, he touched her hands,
her hair, and suddenly
she felt the anguish of
the unknown to come.
Con hábil certeza,
recortando excesos,
adornando sus frases
como ramilletes
de flores silvestres,
una por una las
iría cantando,
y una por una
en su tierno regazo
las iría dejando.
It was the renewal of the tragic plot.
Why is it that the mythical symbol
of power, of love, and of passion
over and over must be relived?
Por los encantos del hábil cazador,
la ninfa al ser finamente seducida,
dejaría su mundo de libre fantasía,
para ser atrapada en los claustros fríos
del falso pudor del celoso carcelero.
Are we to believe that the nymph
by being seduced, lost all her charm?
Or was the hunter who was deceived
by his delusion of control and power?
Ambos, con esa experiencia aprendieron
que nunca más la libertad alcanzarían,
que si logran escapar de la prisión del cuerpo
muy pronto habrán de caer en la prisión del alma.
At the end, neither of them would gain
control or power. In their search for happiness
they have only exchanged the cells
of their predestined, immemorial prisons
Dejemos que al partir digan entonces
que ellos nunca podrán alterar sus destinos.
Que ella quede libre en su mundo, ¡Z en el suyo,
que primero han de aquietarse las aguas del mar
para poder aprisionar del cielo las estrellas.
They need to continue in their predestined
journeys, now, after their paths have crossed.
Let them say good bye before they say hello again.
They need, for a brief moment, to feel secure.
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