Memento Vitae - Now in Spanish Translation!

The wonderful poet Elsa S. Frausto, raised in Argentina and living in Southern California, has added another link to our International Translation Project. "Memento Vitae" by Maja Trochimczyk now appears in Spanish.  We would love to find a place for it on a Spanish-language blog or poetry zine. The poem was previously published in English, Serbian, Polish and French.


Memento Vitae

Hablemos de morir.
El jadeo del último suspiro.
El fin. O quizás no.
No lo sabemos.
Hablemos del último día.
¿Qué harías si lo supieses?
¿A quién amarías?
¿Encontrarías tu más querido,
tu más secreto amor?
¿O sólo te quedarías en el círculo
que te contiene?
¿Robarías o insultarías a alguien?
¿Llorarías?
¿Quemarías tus papeles?
¿Si el tejido de tu futuro
se abreviara en un día,
o quizás sólo en una hora?
Hablemos entonces de vivir.
Tu siguiente aliento,
el que te llevará
al siguiente minuto,
al latir que sigue.
Casi- ahora.

Translation- Elsa S. Frausto
                  January 21, 2013

Elsa S. Frausto's work has appeared in many local and international publications, among them Porte des Poetes, Speechlessthemagazine, Poem of the Month in Poets at Work, Badlands and Poets on Site. She was the coordinator and host for Camelback Readings held at the Sunland-Tujunga Library. She has been a member of the Chuparosa Writers for many years and is Poetry Editor and Translator for the Spanish language literary magazine la-luciernaga.com

Memento Vitae

Let's talk about dying.
The gasp of last breath.
The end. Or maybe not,
We don't know.
Let's talk about the last day.
What would you do
if you knew?
Whom would you love?
Would you find your dearest,
most mysterious love?
Or would you just stay
in the circle of your own?
Would you rob, steal
or insult anyone?
Would you cry?
Burn your papers?
If the fabric of your future
shrank to one day,
or maybe just an hour?
Let's talk about living, then.
The next breath,
that will take you
to the next minute,
the next heartbeat.
Just about - now.

(c) 2008 by Maja Trochimczyk

The original version of this poem was published in October 2009, in the Clockwise Cat:  http://clockwisecat.blogspot.com/2009/10/two-poems-by-maja-trochimczyk.html