[When I stop to consider my calling]

By Roberto Tejada b. 1964 Roberto Tejada

When I stop to consider my calling, remark

the places a wayward temper impelled me

I’ve found in light of where I wandered lost

the most appalling evils could have befallen;

but when I disregard the journey it’s hard to

even fathom I endured so much affliction;

what’s more, my days being spent, I feel I’ve

seen my wariness go with them. I’ll come to

my end, for I surrendered artless to someone

with the science to dispel and destroy me if

so inclined, else the know-how to want to;

for if, with this very hand I could slaughter

myself, why—not on my account but because

so suited—would my enemy do otherwise?

…………………………………………………………………

Cuando me paro a contemplar mi estado

y a ver los pasos por do me han traído,

hallo, según por do anduve, perdido,

que la mayor mal pudiera haber llegado;

mas cuando del camino estó olvidado,

a tanto mal no sé por dó he venido;

sé que me acabo, y más he yo sentido

ver acabar conmigo mi cuidado.

Yo acabaré, que me entregué sin arte

a quien sabrá perderme y acabarme

si quisiere, y aún sabrá querello;

que, pues mi voluntad puede matarme,

la suya, que no es tanto de mi parte,

pudiendo, ¿qué hará sino hacello?

[Garcilaso de la Vega, 1501?-1536]

Roberto Tejada, “[When I stop to consider my calling]” from Exposition Park. Copyright © 2010 by Roberto Tejada. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Exposition Park (Wesleyan University Press, 2010)

Biography

An art historian, curator, and editor specializing in Latino and Latin American art, Roberto Tejada was born in Los Angeles. He earned a BA in comparative literature from New York University and a PhD in interdisciplinary media studies from the English Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the author of the poetry chapbooks Gift & Verdict (1999) and Amulet Anatomy (2001) as well as the full-length . . .

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