9 de mayo de 2024

Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

 


Cuando Bob Dylan escribió My back pages tenía veintitrés años, y yo apenas cinco. No puedo hablar, pues, del significado que quiso trasladar el compositor en el estribillo, si era el fruto del descontento provocado por alguna decepción o la toma de conciencia de lo inútil de algunos de los ideales de la juventud.  

My back pages es una de las canciones que me han acompañado a lo largo de mi vida, incluso antes de comprender la letra, y el significado de ese estribillo ha ido cambiando en función, sobre todo, de la edad y de las experiencias vividas; a partir de hoy que quiero fijar ese significado: la inutilidad de la experiencia frente a los beneficios del pensamiento, la ineficacia de la dialéctica frente a la potencia del  razonamiento; la productividad del silencio frente a la esterilidad del diálogo; a partir de hoy, apostato de mi propia historia: «I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now».

Crimson flames tied through my ears, rollin' high and mighty trapsPounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps"We'll meet on edges, soon, " said I, proud 'neath heated browAh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth, "rip down all hate, " I screamedLies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamedRomantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep, somehowAh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now
Girls' faces formed the forward path from phony jealousyTo memorizing politics of ancient historyFlung down by corpse evangelists, unthought of, though somehowAh, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now
A self-ordained professor's tongue too serious to foolSpouted out that liberty is just equality in school"Equality, " I spoke the word as if a wedding vowAh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now
In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teachFearing not that I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preachMy existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from stern to bowAh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglectDeceived me into thinking I had something to protectGood and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehowAh, but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now.

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