Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

peculiarities, above all for the rhyme.
A ella le parecía haber pasado apenas un día
de que era una de las coristas de Dios;
todavía no se había ido del todo el asombro
de su tranquila mirada,
para aquellos a quienes ella había dejado, su día
había sido contado como diez años.
    In other words, ten years have passed, but she believes that she has been in heaven only one day. And then there follows a parenthesis. Now the lover speaks, in parentheses, and he says he has waited so long that the years feel like they are truly made of years, and he thinks he feels her hair falling over his face. But it wasn’t that, it was the leaves of autumn that fell over his face from the trees in the square.
    [
The reader continues
.]
(To one, it is ten years of years.
. . . Yet now, and in this place,
Surely she leaned o’er me—her hair
Fell all about my face. . . .
Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)
It was the rampart of God’s house
That she was standing on;
By God built over the sheer depth
The which is Space begun;
So high, that looking downward thence
She scarce could see the sun.
It lies in Heaven, across the flood
Of ether, as a bridge.
Beneath, the tides of day and night
With flame and darkness ridge
The void, as low as where this earth
Spins like a fretful midge.
    She was “
sobre la muralla edificada por Dios, sobre la caída, donde empieza el espacio, tan alto que mirando desde arriba apenas podía ver el sol
” [“It was the rampart of God’s house / That she was standing on; / By God built over the sheer depth / The which is Space begun …”] and time is passing quickly, like tides (dark tides and light tides), and these are the day and the night. In this fantastical poem everything is very precise, and the precision is contained in the metaphors. Everything is very visual.
Around her, lovers, newly met
’Mid deathless love’s acclaims,
Spoke evermore among themselves
Their heart-remembered names;
And the souls mounting up to God
Went by her like thin flames.
    She is surrounded by lovers who have just met. That is, who are more fortunate than she, who can enjoy full happiness in heaven. “
Y las almas que iban subiendo a Dios
” [“And the souls mounting up to God”], among whom could be the soul of her lover, were “
como delgadas llamas
” [“like thin flames”].
And still she bowed herself and stooped
Out of the circling charm;
Until her bosom must have made
The bar she leaned on warm,
And the lilies lay as if asleep
Along her bended arm.
    “
Y ella seguía inclinándose
” [“And still she bowed herself”]—because she was impatient—“
y su pecho debió entibiar el metal de la baranda
” [“Until her bosom must have made / The bar she leaned on warm”] which I pointed out earlier. “
Y los lirios estaban como dormidos
” [“And the lilies lay as if asleep”].
From the fixed place of Heaven she saw
Time like a pulse shake fierce
Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove
Within the gulf to pierce
Its path; and now she spoke as when
The stars sang in their spheres.
    “
Y luego ella habló, como cuando las estrellas / cantaron en sus esferas
.” That is, on the first days of Genesis. We also have in this line the alliteration of “stars” and “sang.”
The sun was gone now; the curled moon
Was like a little feather
Fluttering far down the gulf; and now
She spoke through the still weather.
Her voice was like the voice of the stars
Had when they sang together.
    “
Y su voz era como la voz que tenían las estrellas / cuando cantaron juntas.”
(Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird’s song,
Strove not her accents there,
Fain to be hearkened? When those bells
Possessed the mid-day air,
Strove not her steps to reach my side
Down all the echoing stair?)
“I wish that he were come to me,
For he will come,” she said.
Have I not prayed in Heaven?—on earth,
Lord, Lord, has he not pray’d?
Are not two prayers a perfect strength?
And shall I feel afraid?”
    There is a question. It asks “
No está tratando su voz de buscar desde la altura?
” [“Strove not her accents there, / Fain to be hearkened?”] And she says “
Yo deseo que él venga a mí, porque él vendra
. . . ” [“I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come . . . ”] And she says that “he will come” in order to convince herself. She is already feeling uncertain. “‘For he will come,’ she said.” “
¿Acaso no he rezado al Cielo, Señor? ¿Acaso él no ha