Blood and Ink

-
The finger that wrote in my blood
and separated my blood from its ink,
said that the name of my soul is blood
and ink the name of my spirit.
  My soul makes camp in its color
before a red mirror,
my spirit regards itself
in a black mirror.
  And in my heart there was a battle
between blood, air and ink.
Earth, and ink defeated blood
and I was happy, but never again
will I write in fire
with a flame.


                                                                      * Abraham Abulafia


*******
✍ 'The Battle'. Juan Gelman (Buenos Aires, 3 May 1930 ~ México D. F., 14 January 2014).   
◙ Artwork: Salomon Koninck
* Note:  This poem was included in Gelman's 'Com/posiciones', in which he introduces several Medieval Andalusian poets combined with poems of his own production. But in the particular case of these Medieval poets,  his literary work was not restricted to a mere translation, he claims to have been inspired by their poetic impulse and to have written his own "version" of these poets' works.
 *******

'La Batalla'

el dedo que escribió en mi sangre/
y separó mi sangre de su tinta/
dijo que el nombre de mi alma es sangre/
y tinta el nombre de mi espíritu/
mi alma acampa en su color/
frente a un espejo rojo/
mi espíritu se mira
en un espejo negro/
y hubo en mi corazón una batalla
entre la sangre/aire/y la tinta/
tierra/ y la tinta derrotó a la sangre/
y fui feliz/pero nunca jamás
escribiré en el fuego
con una llama

                                                                Abraham Abulafia

*******
✍ Este poema de Juan Gelman fue incluido en su trabajo 'Com/posiciones' (1986), en el cual además de poemas de su autoría, son presentados varios poetas Andaluces del Medioevo. La particularidad de este poemario consiste en que Gelman declara no haber hecho una mera labor de traducción de la obra de aquellos poetas, sino de una suerte de "composición conjunta", inspirándose en ellos pero insuflándoles su propio pulso.
◙ Salomon Koninck

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