A few days earlier, I posted a blog on Neruda's Autumn. One of the fellow bloggers, 博樂 said in her comments to my blog that she also likes Neruda's poems, especially his "Si tú me olvidas" which she read in English. I promised her that when I got the time, I would do the translations for her because I really enjoy Neruda's poems too and I think he deserves to be better known amongst the people in Hong Kong, who speak mostly Chinese and a little English. I like Neruda's style. He writes simply, almost conversationally. He writes directly. He does not pretend that poetry must be about exalted subjects. Nor does he believe that it must be written in a stilted and high flown style understood only by the elite. He has written odes to all kinds of fruits like the orange, the tomato, the potato, the maize, the cherry, the plum, the water melon and ordinary objects like the bed, drinks like tea, insects like the bee, the butterfly etc, some of which I have already translated. In short, he writes about objects, materials and all kinds of living things we meet in our daily life. He brings poetry down to earth. He brings poetry into our daily life and to that extent poetizes our daily life.
I want to dedicate my translations to 博樂 and also to 超人. Both of them have beautiful blogs which I enjoy enormously. They would always have stunningly beautiful photographs followed by their very concise writings (quite unlike mine), often poems by choice English, Indian or Chinese poets. They are very sensitive and beautiful poetry and are always accompanied by carefully selected and very melodious music. They have introduced to me many poets whose poetry I never previously knew about. For this, I am very very grateful indeed.. In addition, 超人 has been very kind in always supplying to my blog videos about the subject of the poems I translated which makes what I am writing about far easier to understand or which which help to give more "substance" to what I was then writing about. I must take this opportunity to thank both of them. They have made my after office hour life far more enjoyable than otherwise would be the case. Words can never adequately express my heart felt gratitude to both of them. As a tiny token of my appreciation of both of them, I set out below the translation of Neruda's poem which they have both read in English. I hope they will excuse any inadequacies in my translations and will not take them as signs of how lightly I treated this effort. Of course, any faults remain mine. So without further ado, here they are:
Si tú me olvidas If you forget me 若你忘掉我
Queiro que sepas I want you to know 我想你知
una cosa. one thing. 一事。
Tú sabes cómo es esto: You know how this is: 你知這是什麽:
si miro if I see 若我在窗見
la luna de cristal, la rama roja the glass moon, the red branch 漫秋之
del lento otoño en mi ventana, of the slow autumn in my window, 玻璃月，紅枝
si toco if I touch 若我在火旁
junto al fuego near the fire 摸着
la impalpable ceniza the impalpable ash 那燙不留手的
o el arrugado cuerpo de la leña, or the wrinkled body of the firewood 或扭柴身上之灰燼
todo me lleva a ti, all carries me to you 一切均携我向你，
como si todo lo que existe, as if all that exists, 猶若一切尚存的，
aromas, luz, metales, aromas, light, metals, 芬香，光，金石，
fueran pequeños barcos que navegan were little boats which navigate 駛向朝我期盼中屬你的
hacia las islas tuyas que me aguardan. towards your islands that await me. 島嶼之小船。
Ahora bien, Now well, 好了
si poco a poco dejas de quererme if little by little, you you cease to love me 若你逐小逐小停止愛我
dejaré de querete poco a poco. I will cease to love you little by little. 我將逐小逐小停止愛你
Si de pronto If suddenly 若你突然
me olvidas you forget me 忘掉我
no me busques, don't look for me, 不用找我
que ya te habré olvidado. because I will have already forgotten you. 因我已忘掉你。
Si consideras largo y loco If you consider long and mad 如你認為掠過我生命
el viento de banderas the wind of banners 的旗熾之風
que pasa por mi vida which passes through my life 長且瘋狂
y te decides and you decide 而决定
a dejarme a la orilla to leave me upon the shore of 擱我於我根植的
del corazón en que tengo raices, where my heart take roots 那心濱
piensa think 記得
que en ese día, that on that day 那天
a esa hora, at that hour, 那時
levantaré los brazos I shall lift my arms 我將舉臂
y saldrán mis raíces and leave my roots 而我的根亦起行
a buscar otra tierra. to seek another land. 另覓他地。
Pero But 但
si cada día, if each day 若每天
cada hora each hour 每時
sientes que a mí estás destinada you feel you are destined for me 你感到你注定是
con dulzura implacable with implacable sweetness 以無法平息之甜蜜傾心於我
Si cada día sube If each day a flower 若一朵花每天
una flor a tus labios a buscarme, rises to your lips to seek me 攀爬你唇上來找我
ay amor mío, ay mía, ah my love, ah mine 噢我的愛人噢我自已的
en mí todo ese fuego se repite, that fire repeats in me, 那火焰將全力重燃我內
en mí nada se apaga ni se olvida, nothing is put out in me nor is it forgotten, 絕不在我內熄滅亦不會遺忘，
mi amor se nutre de tu amor, amada, my love feeds upon your love, beloved 我的愛靠你的愛滋養
y mientras vivas estará en tus brazos and while you live it shall be in your arms 你活着時它將會倚偎你臂內
sin salir de los míos., without leaving mine. 亦不離我臂。
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