Commission
Go, my songs, to the lonely and the unsatisfied,
Go also to the nerve wracked, go to the enslaved by convention,
Bear to them my contempt for their oppressors.
Go as a great wave of cool water,
Bear my contempt of oppressors.
Speak against unconscious oppression,
Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative,
Speak against bonds.
Go to the bourgeoise who is dying of her ennuis,
Go to the women in suburbs.
Go to the hideously wedded,
Go to them whose failure is concealed,
Go to the unluckily mated,
Go to the bought wife,
Go to the woman entailed.
Go to those who have delicate lust,
Go to those whose delicate desires are thwarted,
Go like a blight upon the dullness of the world,
Go with your edge against this,
Strengthen the subtle cords,
Bring confidence upon the algae and the tentacles of the soul.
Go in a friendly manner,
Go with an open speech.
Be eager to find new evils and new good,
Be against all forms of oppression.
Go to those who are thickened with middle age,
To those who have lost their interest.
Go to the adolescent who are smothered in family___
Oh how hideous it is
To see three generations of one house gathered together!
It is like an old tree with shoots,
And with some branches rotted and falling.
Go out and defy opinion,
Go against this vegetable bondage of the blood.
Be against all sorts of mortmain.
Go also to the nerve wracked, go to the enslaved by convention,
Bear to them my contempt for their oppressors.
Go as a great wave of cool water,
Bear my contempt of oppressors.
Speak against unconscious oppression,
Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative,
Speak against bonds.
Go to the bourgeoise who is dying of her ennuis,
Go to the women in suburbs.
Go to the hideously wedded,
Go to them whose failure is concealed,
Go to the unluckily mated,
Go to the bought wife,
Go to the woman entailed.
Go to those who have delicate lust,
Go to those whose delicate desires are thwarted,
Go like a blight upon the dullness of the world,
Go with your edge against this,
Strengthen the subtle cords,
Bring confidence upon the algae and the tentacles of the soul.
Go in a friendly manner,
Go with an open speech.
Be eager to find new evils and new good,
Be against all forms of oppression.
Go to those who are thickened with middle age,
To those who have lost their interest.
Go to the adolescent who are smothered in family___
Oh how hideous it is
To see three generations of one house gathered together!
It is like an old tree with shoots,
And with some branches rotted and falling.
Go out and defy opinion,
Go against this vegetable bondage of the blood.
Be against all sorts of mortmain.
Ezra Pound
Encargo
Id, canciones
mías, al solitario y al insatisfecho,
id también al
neurótico, id al esclavo de los convencionalismos,
llevadles mi
desprecio hacia sus opresores.
Id como una
inmensa ola de agua fresca,
llevad mi
desprecio hacia los opresores.
Hablad contra
la opresión inconsciente,
hablad contra
la tiranía de los que carecen de imaginación,
hablad contra
las ataduras.
Id a la
burguesa que muere de aburrimiento,
id a las
mujeres de las urbanizaciones.
Id a las
horriblemente casadas,
id a aquellas
que disimulan su fracaso,
id a las mal
maridadas,
id a la
esposa comprada,
id a la mujer
impuesta.
Id a aquellos
que tienen delicada lujuria,
id a aquellos cuyos deseos delicados se frustraron,
id como una plaga sobre la estupidez del mundo;
id con vuestro filo contra eso,
endureced las finas cuerdas,
llevad confianza a las algas y tentáculos del alma.
Id de modo amistoso
id hablando a las claras.
Ansiad encontrar nuevos males y un nuevo bien,
oponeos a toda forma de opresión.
Id a los acartonados por la edad madura,
a los que ya han perdido interés por todo.
Id a los adolescentes a los que ahoga la familia
- ¡oh, qué espantoso es
ver a tres generaciones reunidas bajo un mismo techo!
Es como un árbol viejo con brotes
y con ramas podridas que se caen.
Salid y desafiad a la opinión.
Id contra esta servidumbre vegetal de la sangre.
Estad contra toda clase de propiedad hereditaria.
id a aquellos cuyos deseos delicados se frustraron,
id como una plaga sobre la estupidez del mundo;
id con vuestro filo contra eso,
endureced las finas cuerdas,
llevad confianza a las algas y tentáculos del alma.
Id de modo amistoso
id hablando a las claras.
Ansiad encontrar nuevos males y un nuevo bien,
oponeos a toda forma de opresión.
Id a los acartonados por la edad madura,
a los que ya han perdido interés por todo.
Id a los adolescentes a los que ahoga la familia
- ¡oh, qué espantoso es
ver a tres generaciones reunidas bajo un mismo techo!
Es como un árbol viejo con brotes
y con ramas podridas que se caen.
Salid y desafiad a la opinión.
Id contra esta servidumbre vegetal de la sangre.
Estad contra toda clase de propiedad hereditaria.
Traducción
de Jesús Munárriz y Jenaro Talens.
