As if angelic | Borges

∞ Author, 1960

The Maker

Elvira de Alviar[1]

She had had everything but gradually

Everything abandoned her. We've seen it before

She is beautifully armed. early morning

And Mingche's noon from their peaks

Showed her the earth above

A glorious nation. Twilight erases them.

The grace of the stars (boundless

Omnipresent Web of Causes) to give her

Wealth, it will be far from abolished

Like the Arabian magic carpet, and mixed

Desire and possession, and the gift of poetry,

It transforms real suffering into

A piece of music, a whisper and a symbol,

And passion, and in the blood

The battle of Itusingo and the weight of the laurel,

There is also the long river that drifts by in time

(Long River with Labyrinth) and evening

Lost joy in slow colors.

Everything turned its back on her, except

The same. Generous elegance

Accompany her until the end of her life,

Go further than madness and gloom,

It's like an angel. About Elvira

How many years have passed, the first thing I have seen

It was a smile, and that was the last thing I saw.

Translation Notes:

[1] Elvira de Alvear (1907–1959), Argentine writer and celebrity, is rumored to have been Borges's patron.

—Translated by Borges | Chen Dongbiao

—Reading and Rereading—

Elvira de Alvear

All things had and slowly

all abandoned her. We've seen it

armed with beauty. The ma ana

and the clear noon they showed him,

from its summit, the beautiful kingdoms

of the earth. The afternoon was erasing them.

The favor of the stars (the infinite

and ubiquitous network of causes) had given him

fortune, which cancels distances

like the tapestry of Arabic, and confuses

desire and possession, and the gift of verse,

that transforms true sorrows

in a music, a rumor and a symbol,

and fervor, and in blood the battle

of Ituzaingó and the weight of laurels,

and the joy of getting lost in the wanderer

river of time (river and labyrinth)

and in the slow colors of the afternoons.

All things left her, except

one. Generous courtesy

accompanied her until the end of her day,

beyond delirium and eclipse,

in an almost angelic way. By Elvira

the first thing I saw, so many years ago,

it was the smile and it's also the last thing.

Chen Dongbiao translation and others

题图:Elvira de Alvear

ViaWestern Magazine n 301