Musical Soul – a poem by Nicolas Guillén

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS
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I’m just a drunkard. I am seduced

By a luminescent blue wine: a mere illusion

That a burst of spring induced

My heart and my future destination

I sing with joy and without cares

A song well suited to a solemn procession

And then I sing of triumphs with fanfares

And harmonize with rhythm any joyous occasion.

Even if life my mad soul should batter

I shall still strum my simple chord

No hands shall pluck me, nothing will matter

My heartstrings shall throb of their own accord

When death’s hand with quiet cruelty

Tears asunder my song-filled breast

And turns me into dust for all eternity

My song will resonate without rest

And again and again, in my astral wanderings

I will my longings for harmony fulfill

With cascading musical outpourings

And the simple joy of a tiny trill

Translated by Rafael de Acha

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”