Message of Love

In the ongoing series featuring poems from the book presented to me by my grandfather-in-law, Pedro Rodríguez Miranda, I am delighted to share his third poem titled ‘Mensaje De Amor’. 

Mensaje De Amor

Tengo un noble corazón que sufre y llora,
Que también sabe reír si hay alegría
Está esta vez mi corazón sufriendo tanto
Que hasta embajada ha dado a mi poesía:

Dímele tú, lira que cantas
Y comprendes mi loco desvarío,
Dímele, sí, oh verso mío,
Que su desdén, su cruel desdén me mata.

Que sufro y lloro noche y día
Pensando en ella que era toda mi vida,
Que vuelva como viene en primavera
La frágil mariposa a la pradera.

Dile que vuelva junto a mí
A renovar aquel amor que fuera,
Que vuelva como vienen las palomas
Huyendo del invierno a mi azotea.

Que no me haga sufrir, (Mi alma se desvela.),
Que tengo mi casita para ella,
Que vuelva junto a mí y en primavera
Del Jardín de mi pecho tendrá las rosas bellas.

Puerto Rico - 1946
Message of Love

I have a noble heart that suffers and cries,
Who also knows how to laugh if there is joy
This time my heart is suffering so much
That it has given refuge to my poetry:

Tell her, lyre that sings
And understands my crazy fantasy,
Tell her, yes, oh my verse,
That her disdain, her cruel disdain, kills me.

That I suffer and cry night and day
Thinking about her, who was my whole life,
Let her come back as it comes in spring
The fragile butterfly in the meadow.

Tell her to come back to me
To renew the love that was,
Let her come back like the doves come
Fleeing the winter to my roof.

Don't make me suffer, (My soul is restless.),
I have my little house for her,
May she come back to me, and in spring
From the Garden of my chest, she will have beautiful roses.

                                                                      Puerto Rico - 1946
                                                             Translated by 
                                                                                              Edward Ortiz and Liza Rodríguez
Previous Poems:
1. Young Love
2. To Jelly

About the Author:

Pedro Rodríguez Miranda was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on 22 February 1930. He completed his primary and secondary education in Puerto Rico before moving to New York City to attend college when the Korean War started. He joined the Marine Corps and served four years, completing his enlistment and receiving an honorable discharge. After his service, he returned to New York City and attended college, receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he worked for the city until 1965 when he returned to Puerto Rico. He worked as a high school teacher in Aguadilla and completed his second Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez.

34 thoughts on “Message of Love”

    1. Yes, indeed. That’s one of the reasons we decided to start publishing his poems — we don’t want his words to die on a bookshelf. We want to share his words because, as you said, it’s hard to find men who can express themselves the way he did, at least in this generation. Thank you for reading and commenting.

      Like

      Reply

  6. At first I ask myself, “How could she not come back to a poem that beautiful?”

    And then I remember that it takes a poet to write that beautiful poem ~ and even the most priveleged and accepted poet is to some degree a dweller on the fringe of his or her world, a little uncomfortable in mortal life, and thus also a little uncomfortable to live with…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Ah, the feeling’s mutual, then.

        I once met a translator who told me that the interlinguistic and intercultural complications of that art in some ways exceed those of original creation. If that’s true then you two (you have a collaborator, I think I remember you saying?) are doing a doing a bang-up job of bringing the beating heart of classical Hispanic love to all the rest of us. Bravo!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Thank you, we are doing our best and appreciate your words of support. Translation is pretty hard, especially when it comes to poems. My collaborator, aka my wife, received the poetic genes from her grandfather (the author of these poems), so the process gets a little bit easier because of her poetic talent. We are having a great time going back and forth, discussing which words to use while translating her grandfather’s poems.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

Leave a comment