From Far Away

From Far Away

By Delmira Augustini

Translated by Dr. Alejandro Caceres and Willis Barnstone

In silence I feel time passing,
Like a slow parade, cold and rhythmical . . .
Ah! When you are far away my whole life cries
And to the murmur of your steps even in dreams I smile.

I know you will return, that another dawn will shine
In my grave horizon like a somber frown;
There in my forest will live again your great sonorous smile
That gaily crossed it like the glass of a river.

One day, meeting sadly on the path,
In your pale hands I placed my destiny!
And no greater thing will anyone ever offer you!

My soul is before your soul like the sea before the sky:
Between them, like the shadow of a flight,
Storm and time, and life, and death will pass!

Delmira Agustini was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on October 24, 1886 to wealthy parents of German and Italian descent. She published her first volume of poetry when she was twenty-one and followed with two more in the next six years: the fourth volume was a posthumous publication. Her life was cut short in 1914, when Enrique Job Reyes, her ex-husband, shot her to death and then turned the gun on himself.

She is today considered as one of the greatest Latin American Women poets. Agustini was the first woman in Latin-American literature to deal boldly with the themes of sensuality and passion. 

Dr.Alejandro and the distinguished translator Willis Barnstone have done a wonderful job in translating her poetry.

Source:Dr. Alejandro Caceres, Willis Barnstone-Selected Poetry of Delmira Agustini- Poetics of Eros (2008)