"El gato y la luna" William Butler Yeats, 1924

De aquí para allá el gato fué,
y la luna giró como una tapa.
el pariente mas cercano de la luna,
el sigiloso gato, la admiraba.

el negro Minnaloushe miraba fijamente la luna,
pues, vagando y maullando como gustaba,
la pura y fria luz en el cielo
inquietaba su sangre animal.

minnaloushe corre en la hierba
alzando sus pies delicados
¿tú bailas, Minnaloushe, bailas?
cuando dos parientes se encuentran
que mejor que invitarse a bailar?
quizás la luna aprenda,
cansada de la moda cortesana,
un nuevo paso de baile.

minnaloushe se arrastra en la hierba,
de un lugar a otro va
bajo la luz de la luna.
la sagrada luna en lo alto
ha cambiado de fase.

¿sabrá minnaloushe que sus pupilas
de cambio a cambio mutarán,
y que de luna llena a menguante,
de creciente a llena variarán?

minnaloushe se arrastra en la hierba
solo, importante y sabio
y levanta hacia la cambiante luna
sus mutables ojos.



The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet.
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.