XLV

 

Au ote Amerika? —Au nere aberria?

Eragozpen eta Teapot Dome —

Txabola, gau-biltoki, bidegabezko lekuak,

Burni-esi illun atzetik aurpegi ilunak begira,

Eraso-aldiak, aur lapurketak, jarraipenak, deadarrak

Guztiek apostuka —iñork ez galdu bear,

Au ote nere aberria? Etxeko itsas-bazterra ere

Aldatua, ur-ontzi arrotzak ainguratuak,

Eguna joan, eguna etorri, utziak,

Bela ontzi zaarrak, illuntasun ezean,

Ainguratuak, andre gazte itxuradunak bezela —

Illargia illuntzen dan arte,

Itsasoz joan eta sekulan atzera etorri gabe.

Aitaren kutsu zorrotzak ere

 

Erabez jakin arazi nindun kondearen semeari

Dirutza aundiaren ordez bela-ontzia saldu ziola

Nere aurtzaroko laguna, gaizkille sailekoa,

Erruma merkatariak, diru asko aldean daukatenak —

Nabarmen, zardai-pazka oietakoa omen zan,

Kondean ustez, poz-arazleak omen ziran,

Long Island’ko aingurategi lekuan, ur gañean,

Bere semearen gorputza aurkitu arte.

Au ote nere aberria? Zerua zirudin

Devon aspergarri ta ziurrera berriz etortzea,

Lady Jean eta adiskideengandik

Ikusitako izugabekeriak ixilik gordeaz.

 

 

 

XLV

Was this America—this my home? / Prohibition and Teapot Dome— / Speakeasies, night-clubs, illicit stills, / Dark faces peering behind dark grills, / Hold-ups, kidnappings, hootch or booze— / Every one gambling—you just can’t lose, / Was this my country? Even the bay / At home was altered, strange ships lay / At anchor, deserted day after day, / Old yachts in a rusty dim decay— / Like ladies going the primrose way— / At anchor, until when the moon was black, / They sailed, and often never came back. // Even my father’s Puritan drawl / Told me shyly he’d sold his yawl / For a fabulous price to the constable’s son— / My childhood’s playmate, thought to be one / Of a criminal gang, rum-runners all, / Such clever fellows with so much money— / Even the constable thought it funny, / Until one morning his son was found, / Floating dead in Long Island Sound. / Was this my country? it seemed like heaven / To get back, dull and secure, to Devon, / Loyally hiding from Lady Jean / And my English friends the horrors I’d seen.