1 Lowry’s Under tr. de Raúl Ortiz 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 Under the volcano [1947] by Malcolm Lowry Penguin London, 1962 To Margerie, my wife WONDERS are many, and none is more wonderful than man; the power that crosses the white sea, driven by the stormy south wind, making a path under surges that threaten to engulf him; and Earth, the eldest of the gods, the immortal, unwearied, doth he wear, turning the soil with the offspring of horses, as the ploughs go to and fro from year to year. And the light-hearted race of birds, and the tribes of savage beasts, and the sea-brood of the deep, he snares in the meshes of his woven toils, he leads captive, man excellent in wit. And he masters by -his arts the beast whose lair is in the wilds, who roams the hills; he tames the horse of shaggy mane, he puts the yoke upon its neck, he tames the tireless mountain bull. And speech, and wind-swift thought, and all the moods that mould a state, hath he taught himself; and how to flee the arrows of the frost, when it is hard lodging under the clear sky, and the arrows of the rushing rain; yea, he hath resource for all; without resource he meets nothing that must come; only against Death shall he call for aid in vain; but from baffling maladies he hath devised escape. SOPHOCLES–Antigone Now I blessed the condition of the dog and toad, yea, gladly would I have been in the condition of the dog or horse, for I knew they had no soul to Bajo el Volcán de Malcolm Lowry tr. de Raúl Ortiz y Ortiz Era, México, [1964, 1970] 1974 A Margerie, mi esposa ¡De cuantas maravillas / pueblan el mundo, la mayor, el hombre! / El en alas del noto entre la bruma / cruza la blan- ca mar, sin que le asombre / la hinchada ola de rugiente espu- ma. / Y a la Tierra también, la anciana diosa, / incansable, in- mortal, ha domeñado con sus ágiles mulas, yunta airosa, / que año tras año le hincan el arado. El a las aves, cabecitas hueras, / a los monstruos del ponto y a las fieras, / inge- nioso y sagaz, las redes tien- de, / y nada de sus mallas se defiende. / Para rendir al animal que ronda / libre los campos, con primor se ama- ña, / y bajo el yugo domador sujeta / al resistente toro de montaña, / al potro hirsuto de cerviz inquieta. El lenguaje adquirió, y el pensamiento / que corre más que el viento, / y el temple vario en que el vivir estriba / del hombre en la ciudad. Con hábil treta / los flechazos del hielo astuto es- quiva y el chubasco importuno / que no dejan parar a cielo raso. / Su avance no detiene azar al- guno, / y no hay dolencia que le salga al paso / que a soslayar no acierte. / De sólo un mal no es- capa: de la muerte. SOFOCLES, Antígona Now I blessed the condition of the dog and toad, yea, gladly would I have been in the condition of the dog or horse, for I knew they had no soul to