Mimicking Death

 

Omnis mundi creatura
quasi liber et pictura
nobis est, et speculum.
Nostrae vitae, nostrae mortis,
nostri status, nostrae sortis
fidele signaculum.
Nostrum statum pingit rosa,
nostri status decens glosa,
nostrae vitae lectio.
(...)Sic mors vitam, risum luctus,
umbra diem, portum fluctus,
mane claudit vespere.
In nos primum dat insultum
poena mortis gerens vultum,
labor mortis histrio.

Todas las cosas del mundo
son como un libro e imagen
para nosotros, y un espejo.
De nuestra vida, de nuestra muerte,
de nuestro estado, de nuestra suerte
son una fiel representación.
Nuestro estado pinta la rosa,
comentario de nuestra existencia,
lección para nuestra vida.
...
Así la muerte cierra la vida, la pena la risa,
la sombra el día, la marea el puerto,
y la caída de la tarde cierra la mañana.
El primer golpe nos llega
en la forma de una pena
que nos entristece el rostro
—como un mimo de la muerte.

...

Hace muchos años que se me quedó grabado en la mente el poema "De miseria mundi" de Alain de Lille, pero hasta hoy no lo había visto entero. Aquí lo dejo a modo de memento audere semper; lo he encontrado en la Wikisource latina y en la web de un grupo que lo ha musicado, Liva.

De Insulis
The hymn De miseria mundi has certain similarities with Anticlaudianus, another work by the same author. The poet compares the human condition with that of the rose and “deals with the four makers of the world: God, Nature, Fortune, and Vice”. (...) Divisions and titles were inserted by Liva.

1. Omnis mundi creatura
Any worldly creature
Is like a book, a painting,
To serve as a mirror,
Faithful representation
Of our life, of our death,
Of our state, of our lot.
Our condition is painted by the rose,
Of our state, a great gloss and
A lesson from our existence:
In full bloom in the early morning,
Flourishing flower falling out of blossom
In the oldness of the night.



2. Rosa marcet oriens
The flower expires by breathing,
It raves by fading,
Starts to die at birth.
Both ancient and new,
Both elderly and damsel,
The rose fades at birth.
So the spring of our age,
In the very morning of youth,
Flourishes for a brief moment,
But this morning is soon excluded
By nightfall while the twilight years
Conclude.

3. Sic mors vitam
By ending its beauty,
Age or the course of time sweep it away,
Soon deflowers its splendour.
Flower turns into fruit, gem into mud,
Man turns to dust, and to death
Paying his tribute here below.
For his life, for his being are
Sorrow, pain, necessity
To end in death.
So death shuts life, mourning shuts laughter,
Shadow shuts daylight, the tide shuts the sea
And night shuts morning.



4. Mortis est conclusio
The first strike comes to us
From a dead-face sorrow,
From an ordeal mimicking death;
Subjecting us to sorrow,
Transforming us into grievous beings,
And death concludes it all.

5. Luge penam
Thus enclosed under this law,
Man, decipher your condition,
Look closely at who you are,
What you were before your birth,
What you are, what you will be,
Deepen this vision.
Weep in sorrow, lament your offence,
Suppress your impulses, break your pomp,
Cast off your pride;
Leader and coach driver of your soul,
Lead it and direct its course
Not to veer to evil.

 

 

Aquí el texto latino de De miseria mundi, también conocido como Omnis mundi creatura:

Omnis mundi creatura
quasi liber et pictura
nobis est, et speculum.
Nostrae vitae, nostrae mortis,
nostri status, nostrae sortis
fidele signaculum.
Nostrum statum pingit rosa,
nostri status decens glosa,
nostrae vitae lectio.
Quae dum primo mane floret,
defloratus flos effloret
vespertino senio.
Ergo spirans flos exspirat
in pallorem dum delirat,
oriendo moriens.
Simul vetus et novella,
simul senex et puella
rosa marcet oriens.
Sic aetatis ver humanae
iuventutis primo mane
reflorescit paululum.
Mane tamen hoc excludit
vitae vesper, dum concludit
vitale crepusculum.
Cuius decor dum perorat
eius decus mox deflorat
aetas in qua defluit.
Fit flos fenum, gemma lutum,
homo cinis, dum tributum
homo morti tribuit.
Cuius vita cuius esse,
poena, labor et necesse
vitam morte claudere.
Sic mors vitam, risum luctus,
umbra diem, portum fluctus,
mane claudit vespere.
In nos primum dat insultum
poena mortis gerens vultum,
labor mortis histrio.
Nos proponit in laborem,
nos assumit in dolorem;
mortis est conclusio.
Ergo clausum sub hac lege,
statum tuum, homo, lege,
tuum esse respice.
Quid fuisti nasciturus;
quid sis praesens, quid futurus,
diligenter inspice.
Luge poenam, culpam plange,
motus fraena, fastum frange,
pone supercilia.
Mentis rector et auriga
mentem rege, fluctus riga,
ne fluant in devia.

Reading the Bible: Literature and Theology

 

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