PATERNAL – Poetry, by Joan Maragall

PATERNAL > Tornant del Liceu en la nit del 7 de novembre de 1893. Furient va esclatant l’odi per la terra, regalen sang les colltorçades testes, i cal anâ a les festes amb pit ben esforçat, com a la guerra. A cada esclat mortal, la gent trèmula es gira: la crudeltat que avança, la por que s’enretira, se vanpartint el món. Mirant el fill que mama, -la mare que sospira, el pare arruga el front. Pro l’infant innocent, que deixa, satisfet, la buidada mamella, se mira en ell, se mira en ella, i riu bàrbarament.

PATERNAL > Hate explodes throughout the earth with rage, the broken-neck heads drip blood and we must go to parties bravely, as if to war. At every mortal explosion, tre tremulous people turn their heads: the cruelty which advances, the fear which retreats, go along dividing the world between themselves. Looking at hi son at the breast, the mother who sighs, the father furrows his brow. But the innocent infant, who releases, satisfied, the emptied breast, gazes upon him, gazes upon her, and laughs like a savage.

(Joan Maragall)