Catherine Chandler

The Wonderful Boat

(translated from the Spanish “La barca milagrosa”
in Cantos de la mañana, 1910, by Delmira Agustini (1886-1914)

Prepare a boat for me, as big as thought,
then name her “Star” or else “Obscurity”.
The whimsies of the wind and hand must not
command a craft as bold and fair as she!

She’ll move to the pulsation of a heart
incarnadine with fierce vitality.
She'll make me strong as in the arms of God;
trimmed to the wind her sails must always be.

I’m loading all my sorrow in my boat;
with no set course, a lotus flower, I’ll float
along the vast horizon of the sea.

O Boat, my Soul Mate, what uncharted land,
what unexpected truths may lie at hand?
This life, these dreams, shall be the death of me.