Translated by Lola Hidalgo-Calle and Mark Putnam
I never enter, I surrender
to its noble narrowness
of winters without escape
with braziers in the background.
The dawn’s scattered clouds
remain vigil,
wearing wandering blond lace
to bent embroidere.
When it gets dark, I look
at every cloak of rain
whose braiding thread
still stands
over the cobblestones.
I never leave, I wait
the arrival of an angel.
(From Lienzos de Cal)
Vírgenes
Nunca entro, me rindo
a su noble angostura
de inviernos sin salida,
con braseros al fondo.
Los celajes
del alba
permanecen en vela,
llevan blondas errantes
para torcer labores.
Cuando oscurece, miro
cada manto de lluvia,
cuyos hilos trenzados
resisten todavía
sobre los adoquines.
Nunca me voy, espero
la llegada de un ángel.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 18, Issue 1.
María Sanz is a Spanish poet born in Seville, Spain in 1956. Since childhood, she has written about her experiences in her native city. She wrote her first poems at thirteen years of age following the styles of Antonio Machado and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Her style has developed over the years to one which is uniquely her own. The translated poems included here have been selected from Sanz’s book entitled Lienzos de Cal (Canvas of Lime). Each of the poems pay homage a particular street in Seville.
Lola Hidalgo-Calle is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida. She has published two books: one entitled Elementos Populares y Existencialistas en la Poesía de Rafael Montesinos (Existencial and Popular Elements in the Poetry of Rafael Montesinos) and the other is a translation from Spanish to English of a book of Rafael Montesinos’ poems entitled Último Cuerpo de Campanas (The Last Toll of the Bells) with Mark Putnam. Her current work deals with translations of 21st century Spanish women poets.
Mark Putnam is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida. While most of his professional work is academic in nature, he has translated poetry by Spanish author and poet Rafael Montesinos with Lola Hidalgo Calle which has been published in Tampa Review and Blackwater Review as well as an anthology of poetry by Montesinos entitled Último Cuerpo de Campanas (The Last Toll of the Bells). In addition to translations, he has also published a creative non-fiction short story entitled “The Pompano King” in Riverteeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative.
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