Yo en el fondo del mar
Alfonsina Storni
(from Mundo de siete pozos, 1934)

En el fondo del mar
hay una casa
de cristal.

A una avenida
de madréporas
da.

Una gran pez de oro,
a las cinco,
me viene a saludar.

Me trae
un rojo ramo
de flores de coral.

Duermo en una cama
un poco más azul
que el mar.

Un pulpo
me hace guiños
a través del cristal.

En el bosque verde
que me circunda
—din don…din dan…—
se balancean y cantan
las sirenas
de nácar verdemar.

Y sobre mi cabeza
arden, en el crepúsculo,
las erizadas puntas del mar.

Translation by Richard E. McDorman
© 2011

Me at the Bottom of the Sea
Alfonsina Storni
(from World of Seven Wells, 1934)

At the bottom of the sea
is a house
made of glass,

at the edge
of a coral-lined
street.

A big golden fish
comes to greet me
at five;

a red bouquet
of coral
it brings.

I sleep on a bed
a bit bluer
than the sea.

Through the glass
now an octopus
winks.

In the green forest
around me
sway mermaids who sing
—ding, dong … dong, ding—
in their nacre and aquamarine.

And above my head
glow in the twilight
the prickling pins of the sea.

I would like to thank poet and translator Dan Bellm, Instructor of Translation at New York University, for his kind and helpful assistance with this translation.