Yo, aseguro que sí...

Somewhat unexpectedly, my historical interest in early twentieth-century Dominican baseball necessitated diving into some more ancient historical topics. As I studied the writing of early Dominican letrados, or men of letters, who wrote about baseball, it became evident that they had difficulty writing about their attempt to establish a "modern" Dominican Republic without referring to the classical past of the Mediterranean. There is another location one can read about this in-depth, if one is so inclined. One thing I intend to do here is something I had less time to do while writing my MA thesis: collect, display, and translate Dominican poetry from the letrados I studied. From my cursory searches, there is little to no digital record of any of these. Here is one to start. It seems to be something of a Homeric ode, native to the Caribbean. In a common theme, the author places himself into the narrative arc of the poem. I have included my attempt at a translation below.

Listin Diario (Santo Domingo), July 4, 1917.

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The Poem of Life

To pass through the world planting roses
the blue prairies, the infertile rock;
of Venus and Ondinas the hip of the sea;

To be an inhabitant of a gallant world;
or be a soldier of time past,
who knows in the fight to laugh and sing!

Being One, protean, distinct, diverse.
Being One in prose and One in verse:
Diverse in form and One in Truth

To have as the ray of the Sun at dawn,
a prism that breaks the light and flora,
or climb in heaven his triumphal arch!

To put sandals on the feet of the ladies,
and next to the flames to dress in tulle,
to be a knight in armor and sword,
or the pack-saddle boy of a blue prince

That it matters the same to be a duke or a page;
to be the trunk or branch of the tree of Love;
that all we have is a broken-off branch
to render vassalage and be worshiped by a heart

To tame spirited ponies, to wear flowered silk,
and grasp the manes to make them fly;
and hear the sonata of many violins,
and under shades of white jasmine
bring the bride the triumphal stanza!

To feel arrogant in the middle of life;
and next to the wound put a flower
and to make many verses of rhyme felt,
and to be a Leonidas facing the pain!

Raised forehead and bare chest;
standing in the trench; standing on the shield,
like a gladiator!
to evade slander, to laugh at the foolishness;
to look upon the infamous with sad contempt
and make many verses of Life and Love!

To feel alive like an Argonaut
rowing in the prow of a strong vessel;
behind the Lyre and the Flute,
with course to the beaches of honey and wine

Sighted are ten thousand pilgrims,
and smiling sailors in triumphal air,
that haughtily crossed by bad roads,
evading the traitorous and fatal destiny!

And so we row with a thousand songs;
furious waters, swollen sails,
and sights fixed on the polar star;

Wearing a gentle and radiant torch,
which illuminates with pink and diamond lights,
the Motherland, the Wife, the Bliss, the Home!

M. German Soriano

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