What can be compared to the kiss of a Virgin damsel ?

Coplas on Wine by Nicanor Parra, Translated by T Wignesan

(Note: Here, the famous professor-astrophysicist AntiPoetic Chilean Poet Nicanor Parra, b. 1914-d. 2018, uses the more popular form of the « copla » genre that he "contains" in quatrains of 8 to 10 syllables with two lines of each quatrain rhyming at random, though not in perfect rhymes, in order to approximate the lilting « song » forms. He does not adhere to the syllabic and rhyme schemes of other more fixed forms, such as, the
« Copla de arte mayor » or the « Coplas a pie quebrado », rather he favours the form known as « Malas coplas », songs composed and sung by the blind in the streets. Parra also uses words which are particular to Chilean expressiveness.)

COPLAS on WINE

Feeling nervous, but not without defiance
...towards all that constitutes competition
...in the face of those who deprecate, I beg
pardon and consdescension.

With my face deadpan in coffin
...and my butterflies of old
...I also wish to affirm my présence
in this solemn celebration.

Is there (anything), I (dare) ask
...more noble than a bottle
...of wine well interposed
between two twin souls ?

Wine possesses power
...to command respect and to destabilize
...transmuting snow into fire
and make fire turn into stone.

Wine is all things : it’s the sea
...boots for twenty immeasurable distances
...the magical interior insulation, the sun
the parrot of seven tongues.

Some drink to slake thirst
...others to forget obligations
...and to espy tiny lizards
and cracks and fissures in stars.

The man who’s not drawn to drink
...his cup filled with liquid like blood
...cannot be, so I dare think
a Christian of staunch descent.

Wine can be sipped
...from vessels of silver, crystal or clay
...but it’s best when in copihue*
in fuchsia or in white lily.

The poor allot themselves their portion
...in order to placate their duties
...which they are unable to fulfill
neither with tears nor with strikes.

If I was asked to choose
...between diamonds and pearls
...I would choose a portion
of grapes white and black.

The blind man with a cup
...sees sparks and lightning streaks
...and the lame of birth
who break out dancing the cueca.*

Wine when one drinks it
...with sincerity inspired
...only then can it be compared
to the kiss of a Virgin damsel.

In the name of all this I raise
...my cup to the sun of the night
...and drink this sacred juice
which makes brothers of us all in heart.


• copihue : flowering plant cultivated as adornment.
* cueca : popular Chilean dance.
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016
Copyright © T Wignesan | Year Posted 2016