XXXII

 

“John, zu bezela izendatzea nai det, edo bestela...”

“Bañan, ene maite, nagusia beti Percy izaten da.”

“Ez dizut eskatzen Hiram, nere aita bezela —”

“Bañan, ene maite, nagusia beti Percy izaten da.”

“Izen ori, Percy, gorrotoan daukat. Naiago Richard edo Ronald,

Edo Peter, zure anaia bezela, edo Ian edo Noel edo Donald—”

“Bañan, ene maite, nagusia beti Percy izaten da.”

 

Orrela ba, erretoreak Percy bataiatu zun; eta Lady Joan’ek

Aurra ta biok bere biotzean kokatu.

Lady gaisoa, mundua porrokatuta

Ikusi izan balu bezela— gizakiaren itzaltzea,

Bere erri, kide, bere izenekoak — eta orain

Berriro bizirik ikusi. Esan oi zun:

“Ez, Amerikatar-zale naiz; nere erraina

Amerikatarra zan”. Zorra onela ordaintzen zun,

Ni berriz, eskerdun — ingelesak bizitza gogortzen zuten

Laguntza egiten ez zieteneri.

 

 

 

XXXII

‘I want him called John after you, or if not that I’d rather...’ / ‘But the eldest son is always called Percy, dear.’ / ‘I don’t ask to call him Hiram, after my father—’ / ‘But the eldest son is always called Percy, dear.’ / ‘But I hate the name Percy. I like Richard or Ronald, / Or Peter like your brother, or Ian or Noel or Donald—’ / ‘But the eldest is always called Percy, dear.’ // So the Vicar christened him Percy; and Lady Jean / Gave to the child and me the empty place / In her heart. Poor Lady, it was as if she had seen / The world destroyed—tle extinction of her race, / Her country, her class, her name—and now she saw / Them live again. And I would hear her say: / ‘No. I admire Americans; my daughter-in-law / Was an American’ Thus she would well repay / The debt, and I was grateful—the English made / Life hard for those who did not come to her aid.