The Bohemian Raises his Glass

Pezoa was Municipal Secretary of the Chilean town of Viña del Mar – Vineyard-on-Sea.

Carlos Pezoa Véliz (1879-1908)

Pezoa was Municipal Secretary of the Chilean town of Viña del Mar – Vineyard-on-Sea.
No escupáis a los beodos que perecen aturdiendo en el vino sus dolores; si odiáis a la embriaguez, odiad las flores que ebrias de sol en la mañana crecen. Los ojos de las vÌrgenes ofrecen la sublime embriaguez de los amores, y los besos son báquicos licores al caer en los labios, estremecen. Embriagada de luz, Ofelia vaga en las sombras de un campo desolado; el sacerdote en el altar se embriaga con la sangre de Dios crucificado, y el poeta mirando de hito en hito la gran pupila azul del infinito!
The Bohemian Raises his Glass
Don’t look down on the drunkards who perish befuddling their sorrows with wine: you don’t hate the flowers that flourish light-headed in morning sunshine. The eyes of the ladies attract us to the high drunken rapture of passion; their kisses are Bacchus’s nectars - our lips are in thrall to sensation. Drunk with light goes Ophelia, sunken In the gloom of a desolate plain; The priest at the altar is drunken With the blood of a god that is slain, Like the poet who gazes unblinking At the boundless blue eye of the main!

Translation: Copyright © Timothy Adès

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