Written by Alina Diaconú
“Las ideas son fuerzas”
— Nietzsche
En el presente
hay realidad,
no mente.
Eso afirman
los maestros.
El miedo
sería entonces
una idea,
un avance
en el tiempo,
una fantasía,
un presagio,
un producto
de la imaginación.
No es cierto
si digo
“ahora
tengo miedo”.
No hay miedo
en el ahora,
sólo tenemos
un pensamiento
que se adelanta
al futuro.
Translated by Victoria Livingstone
“Ideas are forces”
— Nietzsche
In the present
there’s reality,
not theory.
So the masters
affirm.
Fear,
then,
is an idea,
a step forward
in time,
a fantasy,
a prophecy,
a product
of the imagination.
It’s not true
if I say
“now
I am afraid”.
There’s no fear
in the now,
only
a thought
that anticipates
the future.
Written by Alina Diaconú
Un año
me cambió
tanto
que no hay espejo
que refleje
esa metamorfosis.
De una leona
en la selva,
pasé a ser
una golondrina
enjaulada.
Una golondrina
de cristal,
que cualquier viento
derriba,
que un solo soplo
parte
en mil pedazos.
Una golondrina
quebradiza,
con alas
congeladas
e impulso
paralizado.
Pero el cristal
no es hielo,
es vulnerabilidad
de transparencias,
fineza sin torpezas,
vida pendiente
de un hilo.
¿Adónde se fueron
el fuego
y la osadía,
adónde la fuerza
y los desafíos?
De esa leona
en la selva
me sobrevuela
un recuerdo
cada vez
más vago.
Porque aunque
la jaula se abra,
la golondrina
se quedó
sin aire.
Translated by Victoria Livingstone
A year
changed me
so much
no mirror
could reflect
the metamorphosis.
Once a lioness
in the jungle,
I became
a caged
swallow.
A glass
swallow
that the wind
topples,
that the slightest breeze
breaks
into a thousand pieces.
A brittle
swallow
with frozen
wings,
momentum
immobilized.
But glass
is not ice,
it’s vulnerable
in its transparency,
fine, flawless,
life hanging
by a thread.
What happened
to fire
and daring,
what happened to strength
and defiance?
A memory of
that lioness
in the jungle
soars over me,
a memory
more and more
blurred.
Since even if
the cage was opened,
the swallow has been left
breathless.
Alina Diaconú is the author of 21 books, including novels, poetry, and collections of essays and short stories. Born in Romania, she moved to Argentina with her family in 1959 and writes in Spanish. Her work has been translated into English, French, Italian, and Romanian. She has been honored by the Romanian government and has won many other international awards, including the 2018-2019 Prix Asolapo in Italy.
Victoria Livingstone is a writer and translator. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Literary Mama, Tab Journal, Asymptote, Seneca Review, and elsewhere. She holds a doctorate in Latin American Literature and teaches in the Humanities Department at New Jersey Institute of Technology. You can connect with her on Twitter @ToriaJL and find more of her writing at her website.