Quiero dormir el sueño de las manzanas
[I want to sleep the sleep of the apples,]
alejarme del tumulto de los cementerios.
[I want to get far away from the busyness of the cemeteries.]
Quiero dormir el sueño de aquel niño
[I want to sleep the sleep of that child]
que quería cortarse el corazón en alta mar.
[who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea.]
No quiero que me repitan que los muertos no pierden la sangre;
[I don’t want them to tell me again how the corpse keeps all its blood,]
que la boca podrida sigue pidiendo agua.
[how the decaying mouth goes on begging for water.]
No quiero enterarme de los martirios que da la hierba,
[I’d rather not hear about the torture sessions the grass arranges for]
ni de la luna con boca de serpiente
[nor about how the moon does all its work before dawn]
que trabaja antes del amanecer.
[with its snakelike nose.]
Quiero dormir un rato,
[I want to sleep for half a second,]
un rato, un minuto, un siglo;
[a second, a minute, a century,]
pero que todos sepan que no he muerto;
[but I want everyone to know that I am still alive,]
que haya un establo de oro en mis labios;
[that I have a golden manger inside my lips,]
que soy un pequeño amigo del viento Oeste;
[that I am the little friend of the west wind,]
que soy la sombra inmensa de mis lágrimas.
[that I am the elephantine shadow of my own tears.]
Cúbreme por la aurora con un velo,
[When it’s dawn just throw some sort of cloth over me]
Porque quiero dormir el sueño de las manzanas
[Because I want to sleep the sleep of the apples,]
para aprender un llanto que me limpie de tierra;
[and learn a mournful song that will clean all earth away from me,]
porque quiero vivir con aquel niño oscuro
[because I want to live with that shadowy child]
que quería cortarse el corazón en alta mar
[who longed to cut his heart open far out at sea].