2 Poems by Adela Zamudio Translated by Laura Nagle

Born a Man

It’s so much work, she must confess,

grappling with the sloth of her spouse,

cleaning his home, handling his mess!

(Let’s imagine it, if we can.)

He is useless and fatuous,

yet remains the head of the house,

because he’s a man.

Were she to pen a verse, they’d think

some man did the composition,

her part naught but a name in ink.

(Let’s imagine it, if we can.)

But if he is not a poet,

why accept this supposition?

Because he’s a man.

A brute votes on election day;

he is a man, and that’s the rule.

Yet brilliant women have no say.

(Let’s imagine it, if we can.)

Teach him to sign his name, that’s all;

it matters not if he’s a fool,

because he’s a man.

He gambles, he drinks, and he pouts

whenever his luck has gone wrong,

while she suffers, struggles, and doubts.

(Let’s imagine it, if we can.)

Yet they call her “the weaker sex”

and he’s reputed to be strong,

because he’s a man!

She must forgive if she is cursed

with a husband who cheats and lies.

And what if the roles are reversed?

(Let’s imagine it, if we can.)

He can kill in a fit of rage

and say he’s the victim! That flies,

because he’s a man!

Most fortunate of mortals,

how thoroughly and truly

(albeit, though, unduly)

you enjoy unquestioned fame!

Merely being born a man

was enough to make your name.

Nacer hombre

Ella, ¡que trabajos pasa
por corregir la torpeza
de su esposo! y en la casa
(Permitidme que me asombre)
tan inepto como fatuo
sigue él siendo la cabeza,
porque es hombre.

Si algunos versos escribe,
— “De alguno esos versos son
que ella sólo los suscribe”.
(Permitidme que me asombre)
Si ese alguno no es poeta,
¿por qué tal suposición?
— Porque es hombre.

Una mujer superior
en elecciones no vota,
y vota el pillo peor;
(Permitidme que me asombre)
con sólo saber firmar
puede votar un idiota,
porque es hombre.

Él se abate y bebe o juega
en un revés de la suerte:
ella sufre, lucha y ruega.
(Permitidme que me asombre)
A ella se llame el “ser débil”,
y él se apellida “ser fuerte”,
porque es hombre.

Ella debe perdonar
siéndole su esposo infiel;
pero él se puede vengar.
(Permitidme que me asombre)
En un caso semejante
hasta puede matar él,
porque es hombre.

¡Oh, mortal privilegiado,
que de perfecto y cabal
gozas seguro renombre!
En todo caso, para esto,
¿qué te ha bastado?
Nacer hombre.

The Husband

Thirsting in the desert of ambition,

in search of recognition he holds dear,

a man stands at the threshold of glory;

to his wife he says, “Stand back and stay here.”

And when he resumes his arduous quest,

his courage failing, his fortunes adverse,

“Stay by my side,” he beseeches his wife,

“for so you did swear, for better or worse.”

El hombre

Cuando abrasado por la sed del alma

quiere el hombre, viajero del desierto,

laureles recoger,

al dintel de las puertas de la gloria,

“Detente aquí” le dice a la mujer.

Y al volver a emprender la ardua carrera,

si siente que flaquea su valor,

“Ven, ven —la dice entonces—,

tú eres mi compañera

en las horas de lucha y dolor…”

Laura Nagle is a translator and writer based in Indianapolis. She was awarded a 2020 Travel Fellowship by the American Literary Translators Association, and her translations are forthcoming in journals including AGNI. Her current translation projects include contemporary fiction and previously untranslated works by the prominent French writers Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870) and George Sand (1804–1876) and Bolivian feminist poet Adela Zamudio (1854–1928).
Adela Zamudio (1854–1928) was a writer, activist, and educator from Cochabamba, Bolivia. Starting as a teenager, she published numerous essays, poems, and short stories, often using the pen name Soledad, as well as one novel, Íntimas. She was recognized in her lifetime as one of her country’s finest poets; two years before her death, she was honored by presidential decree as “the greatest exemplar of culture in Bolivia.” She is perhaps best remembered today as a pioneer in the Bolivian feminist movement, having advocated for reforms ranging from secular education for girls to women’s right to divorce.

16 September 2021