You may remember my post on May, 1st, in which I intended to give rightful credit to Alfredo Cuervo Barrero on his poem Queda Prohibido and which keeps circulating on the web under Neruda's authorship.
Well, I contacted him to request permission to publish his poem on my blog with my own translation. After an exchange of e-mails I got his permission and warm thanks for extending his work via my blog. So here is the full poem and my translation:
Well, I contacted him to request permission to publish his poem on my blog with my own translation. After an exchange of e-mails I got his permission and warm thanks for extending his work via my blog. So here is the full poem and my translation:
QUEDA PROHIBIDO
¿Qué es lo verdaderamente importante?,
busco en mi interior la respuesta,
y me es tan difícil de encontrar.
Falsas ideas invaden mi mente,
acostumbrada a enmascarar lo que no entiende,
aturdida en un mundo de irreales ilusiones,
donde la vanidad, el miedo, la riqueza,
la violencia, el odio, la indiferencia,
se convierten en adorados héroes,
¡no me extraña que exista tanta confusión,
tanta lejanía de todo, tanta desilusión!
Me preguntas cómo se puede ser feliz,
cómo entre tanta mentira puede uno convivir,
cada cual es quien se tiene que responder,
aunque para mí, aquí, ahora y para siempre:
Queda prohibido llorar sin aprender,
levantarme un día sin saber qué hacer,
tener miedo a mis recuerdos,
sentirme sólo alguna vez.
Queda prohibido no sonreír a los problemas,
no luchar por lo que quiero,
abandonarlo todo por tener miedo,
no convertir en realidad mis sueños.
Queda prohibido no demostrarte mi amor,
hacer que pagues mis dudas y mi mal humor,
inventarme cosas que nunca ocurrieron,
recordarte sólo cuando no te tengo.
Queda prohibido dejar a mis amigos,
no intentar comprender lo que vivimos,
llamarles sólo cuando los necesito,
no ver que también nosotros somos distintos.
Queda prohibido no ser yo ante la gente,
fingir ante las personas que no me importan,
hacerme el gracioso con tal de que me recuerden,
olvidar a todos aquellos que me quieren.
Queda prohibido no hacer las cosas por mí mismo,
no creer en mi dios y hallar mi destino,
tener miedo a la vida y a sus castigos,
no vivir cada día como si fuera un último suspiro.
Queda prohibido echarte de menos sin alegrarme,
odiar los momentos que me hicieron quererte,
todo porque nuestros caminos han dejado de abrazarse,
olvidar nuestro pasado y pagarlo con nuestro presente.
Queda prohibido no crear mi historia,
dejar de dar las gracias a mi familia por mi vida,
no tener un momento para la gente que me necesita,
no comprender que lo que la vida nos da, también nos lo quita.
Alfredo Cuervo Barrero
and here's my English tranlation of the poem:
IT IS FORBIDDEN
What is truly important for me?
I search the answer inside me,
And I find it so hard to discover.
False ideas invade my mind,
So used to disguise what cannot understand,
Dazed in a world of unreal illusions,
Where vanity, fear, wealth,
Violence, hatred, indifference,
Become worshipped heroes,
I am not surprised that there is so much confusion,
So much remoteness from everything, so much disappointment!
What is truly important for me?
I search the answer inside me,
And I find it so hard to discover.
False ideas invade my mind,
So used to disguise what cannot understand,
Dazed in a world of unreal illusions,
Where vanity, fear, wealth,
Violence, hatred, indifference,
Become worshipped heroes,
I am not surprised that there is so much confusion,
So much remoteness from everything, so much disappointment!
You ask me how one can be happy,
How one can live among so many lies,
It is for everyone individually to answer themselves,
Although for me, here, now and forever:
It is forbidden to cry without learning,
To get up one day without knowing what to do,
To fear my memories,
To ever feel lonely.
It is forbidden not to smile at problems,
Not to fight for what I desire,
To abandon everything because of fear,
Not to make my dreams come true.
It is forbidden not to show you how much I love you,
To make you pay for my insecurity and my bad moods,
To make up stories that never happened,
To remember you only when I miss you.
It is forbidden to leave my friends,
Not to try to understand what we are living,
To call them only when I need them,
Not to see that we are also different.
It is forbidden not to be myself when with people,
To pretend with people that I do not care for,
To play the fool so that I will be remembered,
To forget about all those who love me.
It is forbidden not to do things by myself,
Not to believe in my god and find my destiny,
To fear life and its retribution,
Not to live every day as if it were a last breath.
It is forbidden to miss you without being happy,
To hate the moments that made me love you,
Just because our paths have stopped embracing,
To forget our past and pay for it with our present.
It is forbidden not to try and understand the others,
To think that their lives are worth more than mine,
Not to know that everyone has their own path and happiness,
To feel that without them the world ends.
To make you pay for my insecurity and my bad moods,
To make up stories that never happened,
To remember you only when I miss you.
It is forbidden to leave my friends,
Not to try to understand what we are living,
To call them only when I need them,
Not to see that we are also different.
It is forbidden not to be myself when with people,
To pretend with people that I do not care for,
To play the fool so that I will be remembered,
To forget about all those who love me.
It is forbidden not to do things by myself,
Not to believe in my god and find my destiny,
To fear life and its retribution,
Not to live every day as if it were a last breath.
It is forbidden to miss you without being happy,
To hate the moments that made me love you,
Just because our paths have stopped embracing,
To forget our past and pay for it with our present.
It is forbidden not to try and understand the others,
To think that their lives are worth more than mine,
Not to know that everyone has their own path and happiness,
To feel that without them the world ends.
It is forbidden not to create my story,
To stop thanking my family for my life,
Not to have one moment for the people who need me,
Not to understand that what life gives us, life can also take it away.
To stop thanking my family for my life,
Not to have one moment for the people who need me,
Not to understand that what life gives us, life can also take it away.
Alfredo Cuervo Barrero
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