Kubla Khan é um poema escrito por
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poeta inglês, em homenagem ao grande líder mongol
Kublai Khan e seu palácio de verão, Xanadu. O poema descreve eloquentemente
Xanadu e o rio sagrado Alph, as vezes de forma subjetiva, outras, de forma direta,
a através desse relato fala de seus próprios sentimentos. Esse poema é uma
prova do fascínio que o Ocidente tinha pelo Oriente, ou mais além, do fascínio
que o homem tem do desconhecido.
Essa tradução tenta ao máximo
respeitar a métrica e o esquema de rimas do poema original, e toma algumas
liberdades onde o tradutor achou que elas seriam bem-vindas.
KUBLA KHAN
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! That deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! As holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! That deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! As holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
KUBLA KHAN
Samuel
Taylor Coleridge
Em Xanadu erigiu Kubla Khan
Um domo de prazer decretado
Onde o rio sagrado Alph corria
Em cavernas que o homem não mediria
Em um mar pelo sol não explorado.
O solo fértil se estendia
Com ameias trançadas ao dia
Nos jardins e trilhas sinuosas
Florescia uma árvore de incenso
Em florestas tão misteriosas
Com raras manchas ensolaradas.
Mas ah! O profundo
abismo romântico
Na colina, coberta de
madeira cortante
Lugar selvagem! Santo,
como um cântico
Pois, a lua em prantos
é amaldiçoada
Por uma dama e seu
demoníaco amante
E do abismo, inquieto
e fervente
Como se a terra
respirasse inocente
Uma fonte surgiu, no
momento forçada
E vindo de seu jato
interrompido
Fragmentos caíram como
granizo
Ou grãos que somem sem
aviso
E dentre as rochas em
sua dança
Correu acima o rio sem
temperança
Seguindo seu caminho
sinuosamente
E dentre a madeira o
rio corria
Até as cavernas que o
homem não mediria
E afundou em tumulto
num mar sem vida
E nesse tumulto, Kubla
ouviu da terra
Vozes ancestrais
profetizando guerra!
A sombra do prazeroso
domo, ela
Flutuava por dentre as
ondas
Onde foi ouvida com
cautela
Da fonte e das
cavernas sem sondas
Era um milagre, com
todo o direito de Sê-lo
O domo de prazer,
ensolarado e feito de gelo!
Uma donzela e um
saltério
Eu tive essa visão um
dia
Era uma abissínia
escrava
E com seu saltério,
ela tocava
Cantando do monte
Abora
Ah! Se pudesse tê-la
dentro de mim
Sua música e sinfonia
Um êxtase tão profundo
viria a mim
Que com sua música e
sua harmonia
No ar, o domo talvez
eu construa
Prazeroso domo!
Ensolarado e de gelo
E todos que ouviram os
veriam então
E todos gritariam
Atenção! Atenção!
Seus olhos brilham,
seu cabelo flutua
Teça um círculo a sua
volta com riso
E feche seus olhos com
medo e castidade
Pois ele se alimentou
do mel da eternidade
E bebeu o leite do Paraíso.
