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Title: Poetas Futuros
Author(s): Walt Whitman, Carlos Montemayor
Date: 1997
Whitman Archive ID: med.00507
Source: "Poetas Futuros." Saludos al mundo y otros poemas. Tr. Carlos Montemayor (Argentina: Ed. Colihue, 1997), 25. Transcribed from a digital image of a print original. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of translations, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note(s): Like Borges's edition, Montemayor's features facing-page versions in English and Spanish. Transcriptions of both the English and Spanish versions are included here. Montemayor's translation is based on the final form of the poem as it appeared in Leaves of Grass. For more on Montemayor's translation, see Matt Cohen, Nicole Gray, and Rey Rocha, "'Poets to Come': An Introduction to the Spanish Translations."
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, Rey Rocha, Vanessa Steinroetter, and Janel Cayer
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POETS TO COME
Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for,
But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental,
greater than before known,
greater than before known,
Arouse! for you must justify me.
I myself but write one or two indicative words
for the future,
for the future,
I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry
back in the darkness.
back in the darkness.
I am a man who, sauntering along without fully
stopping,
turns a casual look upon you and then averts his face,
stopping,
turns a casual look upon you and then averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you.
POETAS FUTUROS
¡Poetas futuros, oradores, cantantes, músicos futuros!
Este día no me justifica ni me revela por qué estoy aquí.
Nueva progenie continental, atlética, más grande que
todas las anteriores,
todas las anteriores,
¡despierta a justificarme!
Yo sólo he escrito una o dos palabras para señalar
el futuro,
el futuro,
avanzo un momento y apresuradamente regreso
a la oscuridad.
a la oscuridad.
Soy un hombre que al caminar, sin detenerse
totalmente,
totalmente,
dirige la mirada hacia ustedes y luego aparta el rostro:
permite que ustedes lo examinen y definan,
espera de ustedes las principales cosas.