XL

 

Zaartzen nijoan bezela, atzera begiratzean,

Ikusten det, biotzean sustraituenak

Ez dirala geienak uts egiten digutenak.

Senar-emazte batzuek eriotzak ere

Ezin ditu banandu.

Luzaroan alkarrekin bizi izan diranak

Batek bestearen gogoa ikasia du,

Uskeriak, azturak, zintzotasunak, itxaropen ta beldurrak —

Ezin bakarrik joan —ez bestea atzean utzi.

Ai, John eta neretzat ez zan orrela:

Joandakoak ere marro egiten zidan,

Ain egun gutxi alkarrekin,

Borroka egin arren — guztia galdua,

Eriotza ziztakoan etorria,

Maitasuna ez bakarrik galdua,

Nerea izan zala, orren jakite alaia ere.

 

 

 

XL

As i grow older, looking back, i see / Not those the longest planted in the heart / Are the most missed. Some unions seem to be / Too close for even death to tear apart. / Those who have lived together many years / And deeply learnt to read each other’s mind, / Vanities, tempers, virtues, hopes and fears— / One cannot go—nor is one left behind. / Alas, with John and me this was not so: / I was defrauded even of the past. / Our days had been so pitifully few, / Fight as I would, I found the dead go fast. / I had lost all—had lost not love alone, / But the bright knowledge it had been my own.