The only thing more dangerous than wanting to save another person — a dangerous desire too often mistaken for love — is wanting to save yourself, to spare yourself the disappointment and heartbreak and loss inseparable from being a creature with hopes and longings constantly colliding with reality, with the indifference of time and chance, with the opposing hopes and longings of others.We have, of course, always invented institutions of salvation — religion to save us from our sins, therapy to save us from our traumas, marriage to save us from our loneliness — in order to salve our suffering, which is the price we pay for the fulness of living. And salve it we must, yet there is no damnation greater than spending our allotted days in the catatonia of comfort and certainty, our inner lives automated by habit and halogen lit by convenience. To try to save ourselves from the despair by which we contour hope, to spare ourselves the fertile doubt and the gasps of self-surprise by which we discover who we really are, is to live a safe distance from alive. Card from An Almanac of Birds: 100 Divinations for Uncertain Days, also available as a stand-alone print.That is what the Uruguayan novelist, journalist, and poet Mario Benedetti (September 14, 1920–May 17, 2009) explores in his astonishing poem “No Te Salves” — part indictment, part invitation, reminding us that we most often break our hearts on the hard edges of our own fear of living, on the parts of us so petrified that they have become brittle to the touch of life, the touch of love.Since I didn’t feel that the standard English translation quite captures the urgency and intimacy of the original language, I have translated it anew. It is read here in the original Spanish by my friend Karen Maldonado (who introduced me to the poem), in English and Bulgarian by me, and in Russian by my mother (who translated it into Russian and our native Bulgarian), to the sound of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major.NO TE SALVESpor Mario BenedettiNo te quedes inmóvilal borde del caminono congeles el júbilono quieras con desganano te salves ahorani nunca no te salvesno te llenes de calmano reserves del mundosólo un rincón tranquilono dejes caer los párpadospesados como juiciosno te quedes sin labiosno te duermas sin sueñono te pienses sin sangreno te juzgues sin tiempopero si pese a todo no puedes evitarloy congelas el júbiloy quieres con desganay te salvas ahoray te llenas de calmay reservas del mundosólo un rincón tranquiloy dejas caer los párpadospesados como juiciosy te secas sin labiosy te duermes sin sueñoy te piensas sin sangrey te juzgas sin tiempoy te quedas inmóvilal borde del caminoy te salvas entoncesno te quedes conmigo.DO NOT SPARE YOURSELFby Mario Benedettitranslated by Maria PopovaDon’t stand motionlessby the side of the roaddon’t petrify your joydon’t desire with reservedo not spare yourself nowor ever do not spare yourselfdon’t fill up on tranquilitydon’t claim from the worldonly a quiet cornerdon’t let your eyelids fallheavy as judgmentsdon’t remain liplessdon’t fall asleep unready to dreamdon’t think yourself bloodlessdon’t deem yourself out of timebut if in spite of it all you can’t help itand petrify your joyand desire with reserveand spare yourself nowand fill up on tranquilityand claim from the worldonly a quiet cornerand let your eyelids fallheavy as judgmentsand remain liplessand fall asleep unready to dreamand think yourself bloodlessand deem yourself out of timeand stand motionlesson the side of the roadand you have been spared thendo not stay with me.НЕ СЕ ЩАДИМарио Бенедетипревод от Лилия ПоповаНе стой неподвижнокрай пътяне вкаменявай радостта сине желай неохотноне се щади сегаи никога не се щадине се изпълвай с покойне искай от света само едно тихо кътчене позволявай на клепачите ти да паднат,тежки като присъдине оставай беззвученне заспивай без сънищане се мисли за безсиленне се съди без времено ако все пак не успееши вкамениш радостта сии желаеш неохотнои се щадиш сегаи си изпълнен с покойи искаш от света само едно тихо кътчеи позволиш клепачите ти да паднат,тежки като присъдии останеш беззвучени заспиваш без сънища,и се мислиш за безсилен,и се съдиш без времеи стоиш неподвижно край пътяи си пощаден тогаване оставай с мен.НЕ ЩАДИ СЕБЯМарио Бенедетиперевод Лилии ПоповойНе стой тихо на краю дорогине загораживай свою радостьне желай с неохотойне щади себя сейчаси никогда не щади себяне исполняйся покоемне проси у мира только тихий уголокне дай опускаться векам твоим,тяжелыми, как приговорне оставайся безмолвнымне усыпай без сновне думай, что безсиленне суди себя без временино если однако не сможеши загораживаешь свою радостьи желаеш с неохотойи щадишь себя сейчас и навсегдаи исполнен покоеми просишь у мира только тихий уголоки даеш опускаться векам своим,тяжелыми, как приговори остаешься безмолвными засыпаешь без снови думаешь, что ты бессилени судишь себя без времении стоишь тихо на краю дорогии щадишь себя тогдане оставайся со мной.donating = lovingFor seventeen years, I have been spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each month composing The Marginalian (which bore the outgrown name Brain Pickings for its first fifteen years). 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