Margaret Atwood

SIREN SONG

This is the one song everyone

would like to learn: the song

that is irresistible:

the song that forces men

to leap overboard in squadrons

even though they see the beached skulls

the song nobody knows

because anyone who has heard it

is dead, and the others can't remember.

Shall I tell you the secret

and if I do, will you get me

out of this bird suit?

I don't enjoy it here

squatting on this island

looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,

I don't enjoy singing

this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,

to you, only to you.

Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!

Only you, only you can,

you are unique

at last. Alas

it is a boring song

but it works every time.

From Selected Poems 1965-1975. Copyright © 1974, 1976 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted with the permission of the author and Houghton Mifflin Company.

EL CANTO DE LA SIRENA

Esta es la única canción que todos
querrían aprender: la canción
irresistible:

la canción que obliga a los hombres
a saltar por la borda en escuadrones
incluso viendo los cráneos en la arena

la canción que nadie conoce
porque cualquiera que la ha oído
está muerto, y los otros no pueden recordarla.

¿Debería contarte el secreto
y si lo hago, me ayudarás
a quitarme este disfraz de pájaro?

No disfruto nada aquí
acuclillada en esta isla
luciendo muy mítica y pintoresca

con estas dos locas emplumadas,
no disfruto cantando
este terceto, funesto y valiosísimo.

Voy a contarte el secreto a ti,
a ti, solamente a ti.
Acércate. Esta canción

es una llamada de auxilio: ¡Ayúdame!
Solo tú, solamente tú serás capaz,
eres único

por fin. Desgraciadamente
es una canción muy aburrida
pero siempre funciona.

Traducción de Andrés Catalán y encontrado en su blog Le Monocle de mon oncle.

Margaret Atwood, (Canada, 1939) is a poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, environmental activist and feminist. She is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award several times, winning twice. She is also a co-founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community.

While she is best known for her work as a novelist, she has also published fifteen books of poetry. Many of her poems have been inspired by myths and fairy tales, which have been interests of hers from an early age. Atwood has published short stories in Tamarack Review, Alphabet, Harper's, CBC Anthology, Ms., Saturday Night, and many other magazines. She has also published four collections of stories and three collections of unclassifiable short prose works.

From here.