The Lightning Dreamer (17 page)

 

Men will say it is my own fault that I have been unhappy; because I have dreamed of things beyond my reach, because I have longed to gaze on the sun, like an eagle . . . Is it my fault if God has given me a heart and a soul?

 

¡Oh! ¡Las mujeres! ¡Pobres y ciegas víctimas! Como los esclavos, ellas arrastran pacientemente su cadena y bajan la cabeza bajo el yugo de las leyes humanas.

 

Oh! Women! Poor blind victims! Like slaves, they stoically drag their chains and lower their heads beneath the yoke of human laws.

 

P
OETRY
:

 

Excerpt from
“Las contradicciones”
(Contradictions):

 

. . . Ni libre soy, ni la prisión me encierra;
Veo sin luz, sin voz hablar ansío . . .

 

Busco el peligro cuando auxilio imploro;
Al sentirme morir me encuentro fuerte . . .

 

. . . I am neither free, nor locked in prison;
I see without light, without a voice I long to speak . . .

 

I seek danger while pleading for rescue;
Feeling doomed I discover my strength . . .

 

Excerpt from
“A mi jilguero”
(To My Goldfinch):

 

Libertad y amor te falta;
¡libertad y amor te doy!
¡Salta, pajarillo, salta,
que no tu tirana soy!

 

Salida franca,
ya tienes, mira,
goza, respire . . .
libre eres ya.

 

You lack liberty and love;
I give you liberty and love!
Leap, little bird, leap,
I am not your tyrant!

 

A clear exit
is yours, look,
enjoy, breathe . . .
you are already free.

 

Excerpt from
“La noche de insomnio y el alba”
(The Night of Insomnia and the Dawn):

 

Noche
Triste
Viste
Ya,
Aire,
Cielo,
Suelo,
Mar.
Brindándole
Al mundo
Profundo
Solaz,
Derraman
Los sueños
Beleños
De paz.

 

Sad
Night
Already
You've seen
Air,
Sky,
Soil,
Sea.
Offering
To the world
Profound
Solace,
Spilling
Dreams
The potion
Of peace.

 

Excerpt from
“Romance”
(Ballad).

 

     
Canto porque hay en los seres
Sus condiciones precisas:
Corre el agua, vuela el ave,
Silba el viento, y el Sol brilla.
      Canto sin saber yo propia
Lo que el canto significa,
Y si al mundo, que lo escucha,
Asombro o lástima inspira.

 

      I sing because each being
Has its purpose:
Water flows, birds fly,
Wind whistles, and Sun shines.
        I sing without knowing
What my song means,
And whether the listening world
Is amazed or wounded.

Avellaneda, Gertrudis Gómez de.
Cartas ineditas
. Madrid: Fundación Madrid, 1975.

———.
Poemas.
Barcelona: Linkgua Ediciones, 2007.

———.
Sab
. Madrid: Catedra Ediciones, 1998.

———.
Sab and Autobiography
. Trans. and ed. by Nina M. Scott. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.

 

Bravo-Villasante, Carmen.
Una vida rómantica—La Avellaneda
. Barcelona: EDHASA, 1967.

 

Harter, Hugh A.
Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda
. Boston: Twayne, 1981.

 

Heredia, José María.
Antología Herediana
. Havana: Imprenta El Siglo, 1939.

———.
Obra poética
. Havana: Letras Cubanas, 1993.

———.
Selected Poems
. Trans. Angel Aparicio Laurencio. Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1970.

 

Lazo, Raimundo.
Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, la mujer y la poetisa lírica
. Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1990.

 

Pastor, Brígida M.
Fashioning Feminism in Cuba and Beyond: The Prose of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda
. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.

I thank God for the magic of words that travel across centuries and oceans.

Lifelong love and thanks to Curtis—without you, I would be unable to write.

I am grateful to my editor, Reka Simonsen, and the entire publishing team at Harcourt, especially Jeannette Larson, Lisa DiSarro, Jennifer Groves, Elizabeth Tardiff, Amy Carlisle, and Adah Nuchi.

M
ARGARITA
E
NGLE
is a Cuban American poet and novelist whose work has been published in many countries. Her books include the Newbery Honor–winning
Surrender Tree, The Poet Slave of Cuba, Tropical Secrets, The Firefly Letters,
and
Hurricane Dancers.
She lives with her husband in Northern California. Visit her website at
www.margaritaengle.com
.

1. Often confused with his cousin, the Cuban French poet José María de Heredia (1842–1905)

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