Pedro Salinas

Pedro Salinas y Serrano (27 November 1891, Madrid – 4 December 1951, Boston) was a Spanish poet and member of the Generation of '27. He was also a scholar and critic of Spanish literature, teaching at universities in Spain, England, and the United States.
Pedro Salinas is considered one of the leading poets of the Spanish literary movement, the Generation of 27, which includes Federico Garcia Lorca, Rafael Alberti, Luis Cernuda, Emilio Prados, Vicente Aleixandre and others.

His father died when he was a child. Being young in Madrid, Salinas developed interest in various topics, including law, philosophy and writing, and dreamed of becoming involved in all these areas.

He then went on to teach at the Sorbonne (Paris) from 1914 to 1917. There, he developed a passion for Marcel Proust's works, translating the first two volumes and part of the third of the vast In Search of Lost Time into Spanish.

When he returned to Spain, he began lecturing at the University of Seville, the University of Murcia, and the University of Santander. In 1922-1923, Salinas taught at Cambridge University. The Spanish Second Republic appointed him rector of the International Menendez Pelayo University.

Before the Spanish Civil War began, Salinas had been offered a teaching position at Wellesley College, and in summer 1936 he left Spain to assume that position, and never returned. He taught in several universities in the United States and Puerto Rico, including the Johns Hopkins University.

He was laid to rest in Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery in San Juan in accordance with his wishes. His complete works have been edited by Enric Bou, of Brown University.

Selected poems

* Aquí (Here)
* Ayer te besé en los labios (I Kissed Your Lips Yesterday)
* El alma tenías (The Soul You Had)
* ¿Fue como beso o llanto? (Was It Like Kissing or Crying?)
* Horizontal, sí, te quiero (Horizontal, Yes, I Love You)
* Largo lamento (Long Lament)
* Razón de amor (Love's Reason)
* Presagios (Omens)
* Underwood Girls
* El contemplado (mar, poema) (The contemplated (sea, poem))

Cujes li - Pedro Salinas

Čuješ li kako traže stvarnost,
rasčupane, divlje,
one, sene, što ih nas dvoje stvaramo
u ovom neizmernom krevetu udaljenosti?
Već umorne od beskraja, od vremena
bez mere, u anonimnosti,
ranjene golemom čežnjom materije,
hoće imena, granice, dane.
Više ne mogu
živeti tako: na rubu
gdje umiru sene, a to je ništavilo.
Pritrči, podji sa mnom.
Pruži ruke, pruži im svoje telo.
Potražit ćemo za njih
boju, datum, grudi, sunce.
Neka otpočinu u tebi, budi njihova put.
Smirit će se njihova velika, nemirna pomama,
dok ih grčevito stišćemo
medju našim telima,
gdje će naći hranu i spokoj.
Konačno će usnuti u našem snu
zagrljenom, zagrljene. I tako,
kad se odelimo, kad se budemo hranili
samo senama, izdaleka,
one,
konačno će imati sećanja, i prošlost
od mesa i kosti,
vreme njihova života u nama.
I njihov tjeskobni san
sena ponovno će značiti povratak
u ovu telesnost, smrtnu i ružičastu,
gdje ljubav stvara svoju beskonačnost.

IMALA SI DUŠU


Imala si dušu
svetlu,otvorenu,
tako da ne mogah
nikad u nju ući.
Pođoh prekim putem,
uskim bogazima
strmim i opasnim.
A duši je tvojoj
put vodio širok.
Spremih lestve vitke
-zidovi visoki,
prilaz joj brane
ali duša tvoja
beše bez čuvara,
zida i ograda.
I potražih uska
vrata tvoje duše,
al' ih ne imaše,
budući da beše
sasvim otvorena.
Gde je počinjala?
Gde joj ishod beše?
I ostah zauvek
sedeć na nejasnom
pragu tvoje duše.