Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, A portrait

Alix Ingber, traductora de Sor Juana

She tries to refute the praises

inscribed on her portrait by Truth,

which she calls passion

This, that you see, this colored treachery,
which, by displaying all the charms of art,
with those false syllogisms of its hues
deceptively subverts the sense of sight;

this, in which false praise has vainly sought
to shun the horrors of the passing years,
and conquering of time the cruelty,
to overcome age and oblivion's might,

is a vain artifice cautiously wrought,
is a fragile bloom caught by the wind,
is, to ward off fate, pure uselessness;

is a foolish effort that's gone wrong,
is a weakened zeal, and, rightly seen,
is corpse, is dust, is gloom, is nothingness.

Esta airosa traducción del soneto de Sor Juana es debida al talento de Alix Ingber, profesora de español en el Sweet Briar College. Su página, cuya última actualización data de abril de 2006, invita a colaborar con traducciones y comentarios. http://sonnets.spanish.sbc.edu