Xhoopa' diidxa' ruí' xiinga guendaranaxhii Six Variations on Love

Xhoopa' diidxa' ruí' xiinga guendaranaxhii

               I
 
Guendaranaxhii
zeedayaca casi ti xiixa nanaa
ni qui zanda guá' binni xadxí
ne qui quiba' dí ra yanni.
 
               II
 
Guendaranaxhii
zeedayaca casi ti lúdxibele ruaa gui'ri',
casi gubidxa rihuinni guibá',
zadu'yanu ziyuí', málasi guibani,
zadu'yanu zié ne zeeda.
 
               III
 
Guendaranaxhii
dxiña yaga nga laa,
niidxi zee guladi' telayú,
niidxi zee ruxooñe'
lade le' xtí' ti gunaa.
 
                IV
 
Guie' du'ga' nga guendaranaxhii,
xquenda guchachi', ná' ti bidó'.
Zánnanu cusiabirí ladxido'no
ne qui zadu'yadi'nu laa.
 
                V
 
Guendaranaxhii
rie ne reeda casi huaxhinni.
Ni rie, riné ti ndaa ladxido'no,
ni reeda, reedacaa xtindaa
lu ni biaana.
 
                  VI
 
Guendaranaxhii
qui gapa xiladxi'
casi guendahuará,
qui gapa guendabiaani'
casi guendaguti.
 

Six Variations on Love

I
 
Love
comes along like an onerous bundle
that cannot be carried for long
without ending in cursing.
 
II
 
Love
comes along like a candle flame
or like the sun that shines in the sky:
we watch it falter, later flare up
we watch its birth, to return another day.
 
III
 
Love
is wild honey that seeps from a tree,
sap of tender maize-cob generous at dawn,
sap that runs
through the intimate garden of a woman.
 
IV 
 
The flower of the fig tree is love.
The iguana trickster or hand of a goddess,
it announces its presence to the heart
but we never see it.
 
V
 
Love
goes and comes like the night.
When it goes it flees with a slice of the soul.
When it comes it ransacks
what's left of the heart.
 
 VI
 
 Love
blooms without losing sleep
like illness
it doesn't understand worries
like death.
 

This translation was first published in World Literature Today

Original Poem by

Victor Terán

Translated by

Shook Language

Zapotec

Country

Mexico