Poems

In the Heart of Time

Notes

Notes on the literal translation:

Title. Plural’ ‘entrañas’ means ‘entrails’ and is used in expressions like ‘las entrañas de la tierra’ – ‘the bowels of the earth’. In the singular it has a more abstract, figurative meaning of ‘core’ or ‘heart’.

l.4. ‘entrar en’ means literally ‘come into’/’enter’. I’ve naturalised it to ‘open onto’.

ll.4/5. Again, these two similar words ‘rastros’ and ‘huellas’ placed next to each other.

l.6. ‘ivies’ – we’d normally go for the singular in Eng. – ‘ivy’. So would the Sp. with ‘hiedra’.

l.6 ‘espesura’ can mean ‘thickness’ or more specifically ‘thicket’/‘overgrown place’.

l.8. ‘Fire’ – the capital letter after the colon is there in the Sp.

l.8. ‘florecido’ literally, grammatically means ‘flowered’ rather than ‘flowering’.

Tom Boll, Literal Translator