ETERNO MIENTRAS DURE My Spanish Poem

My poem turned short animation – Eternal While It Lasts – is touring the world. As a result, some international film festivals are asking us to be provided with country-specific translations.

This month we went to the LHIFF – Love and Hope International Film Festival – in Barcelona, where we presented Eterno Mientras Dure (split into subtitles) alongside the English version.

Fellow creative writer Yusti Gómez Herrera and I worked together to make this Spanish version as faithful to the original and as poignant in its own right as we possibly could.

It was an amusing, stimulating and super creative task, which pushed us to go beyond qualities and limitations of the writing craft as well as of our linguistic skills, in order to create something unique. Not a “mere” translation, but a new version of Eternal While It Lasts. That is, Eterno Mientras Dure, my Spanish poem.

I won’t go into the details of how we proceeded and what our aims and specific choices were, as that would require another article. But I’m here to asker your questions, if you have any.

Dan(Demi) Wu 's and my short animation is still travelling through festivals, so I can’t show it to you yet, but if you’re curious and want to read the two different versions, I’m pasting them below.

Thoughts?

ETERNAL WHILE IT LASTS

I want to shave half your head

and plait the top part, even after lockdowns

for trust tastes of warm ciabatta bread

the more I buy, the more I’ll chow down

I want to croak as you strum our grunge

write while you build lights

run to Ally Pally for a walk

ride our folding bikes along River Lea

I want to laugh till I cry

like the other day in bed

But also cry till I laugh

like last sombre December

I want our hands to keep holding

as our public French kissing

with our private English jargon

veined by steep Brindisinian cursing

Yesterday, over the bad fence, Rowena told us

“Been together for sixteen years, but

You’re still smiling like that?”

“E certo!” I went, “What’s the point, otherwise?”

What’s the point, otherwise?

The. Point. Otherwise

For I am your gig

and you are my theatre,

every day a different show

yet we have our fortes

Unknowns won’t tear us down

not grief nor viruses or times,

as we cherish the here and now

and lose count of our lines

ETERNO MIENTRAS DURA

Quiero raparte media cabeza

y trenzarte la coronilla, incluso desconfinados

porque la confianza es una ciabatta caliente

que como compre, me la como toda

?

Quiero graznar mientras rasgas la guitarra

escribir mientras montas lámparas

correr hasta Ally Pally pa pasear

ir en bicicleta por el Río Lea

?

Quiero reír hasta llorar

como aquel dia en la cama

También llorar hasta reír

como aquel oscuro diciembre

?

Quiero seguir yendo de la mano

besarte públicamente a la francesa?

hablarte privadamente en jerga inglesa

vetada de palabrotas brindisinas

?

?

Ayer, sobre la valla rota, Rowena nos dijo

??Dieciséis a?os juntos

Y todavía sonríen??

?E certo!? le dije, ?porque si no, ?qué sentido tiene??

?

?Qué sentido tiene?

Qué - Sentido - Tiene

?

Que soy tu concierto

y tú eres mi teatro,

cada día un nuevo telón

sobre las viejas costumbres

?

Lo incierto no puede demolernos

ni los virus, ni los tiempos, ni el dolor,

aunque abrazando el aquí y ahora

perdamos la cuenta de las líneas ?

?

Ps: Spoiler alert, Italian verison coming out soon ;)

@Lucia Morciano