UNA CENA
a Scudder Middleton
La ocasión era una cena y la charla
de no ser por ti fuera cómoda y fluida,
honrando el dinero más que nada y sus albures.
Pero estabas tú, bailando en torno a la mesa,
con pies livianos y tu risa sonaba en la sala,
y eras joven, y seguirte el paso era imposible.
No podían ser tus compañeros en tal danza;
y censuraban tales modos en un mundo decente,
y tu fe condenaban con hechos.
Aun así seguían prendidos de la luz que bailaba contigo.
La sombra, vieja como el tiempo, se cernía sobre ti,
de riscos añosos se precipitaban las rocas,
y con todo bailabas vehemente, frenético de luz,
socio veloz e impaciente del sol.
A DINNER-TABLE
To Scudder Middleton
It was a dinner-table and the talk
Except for you would have been smooth and comfortable,
Revering money mostly and its whims.
But you were there and danced around the table,
Light on your feet and laughing in the room
And young and hard to follow.
They could not be your partners in that dance;
And they rebuked such manners in a proper world
And scored your faith with facts.
Yet all the time they watched a light that danced with you.
Darkness as old as time towered about you,
From aged crags the rocks fell down,
And yet you danced impetuous, a very fool of light,
The swift, impatient partner of the sun.