Poesia kaiera
Estetika estudioa
Adabakiz jantzitako haur ttipi-ttipiek ere
Ezohiko jakituria batez horniturik,
Utzi zioten jolasteari neska haien aurrean iragan zenean
Eta oihu egin zuten euren galtzada-harrietatik:
Guarda Ahi, Guarda! Ch’è be’a!
Baina hiru urte geroago
Dante gazteari entzun nion, ez dakit, halere, haren abizena—
Sirmione-n badirelako hogeita zortzi Dante gazte eta,
Hogeita hamalau Catulli;
Eta sardina ugari harrapatuak zituzten,
Eta nagusiak
gordetzen ari ziren zurezko kaxa handietan eta apailatzen
Brescia-ko merkatura eramateko, eta mutila
Saltoka ari zen inguruan arrain distiratsuak oratzen
Eta haien bi bideak itxiz;
Eta alferrik agintzen zioten sta fermo!
Eta arraina kaxetan apailatzeko baimenik
ematen ez ziotenean
ferekatzen zituen jadanik apailaturik zeudenak
bere atseginerako esaera berbera xuxurlatuz:
Ch’è be’a
Eta ni apalki ahalketurik geratu nintzen.
The Study in Aesthetics
The very small children in patched clothing, / Being smitten with an unusual wisdom, / Stopped in their play as she passed them / And cried up from their cobbles: // Guarda! Ahi, quarda! ch’ e be’a! // But three years after this / I heard the young Dante, whose last name I do not know — / For there are, in Sirmione, twenty-eight young Dantes and / thirty-four Catulli; / And there had been a great catch of sardines, / And his elders / Were packing them in the great wooden boxes / For the market in Brescia, and he / Leapt about, snatching at the bright fish / And getting in both of their ways; / And in vain they commanded him to sta fermo! / And when they would not let him arrange / The fish in the boxes / He stroked those which were already arranged, / Murmuring for his own satisfaction / This identical phrase: // Ch’ e be’a. // And at this I was mildly abashed.