“El Bochinche”
Spanish influence on the metaphoric structure in this poem is apparent. Firstly, ‘boniche’ is repeatedly referred to as a metaphor for political instability in the newly independent Latin American world. This was a local term. Still, Irisarri ties it to Spain by correlating the word with the chaos caused by Spain. This indirect link shows Spain’s long-lasting influence on poetic language across Latin America, furthering the archive’s thesis.
“El Bochinche” by Antonio José de Irisarri, written in Guatemala around 1860. Translated by Griffin Brown.
What is a bochinche? "A commotion."
The good Salva answers. But it is not this:
It's a very different thing. Will Salva perhaps
vote on the matter,
without being an authority? Who is
the linguist who defines it?
Riot! Uproar! Madness!
The fuss in that case would not be
worthy of a new name. What reason
would there be to give us
one more word without a new idea?
Uproar is a passing tumult,
the uprising is also temporary;
but the commotion is a permanent thing;
It is the constant order of disorder;
the normal state in which one lives
in eternal confusion and unrest.
It is a certain system of politics;
It is a strange form of government,
which would be better called misgovernment,
although there is despotism in it,
and force prevails over law.
Colombia's invention is the bochinche,
and the name is Colombian: these are facts.
But let's see what its essence is.
and how the states get embarrassed,
and how a man becomes a troublemaker.
The fuss of the absurd idea is born
that God had arranged that ignorance:
the world's business is in disarray.
Men were taught that in a hundred fools
there must be more reason than in one sensible person,
and that if there are more fools in the world,
These must be the rulers.
This was enough to see us.
in perpetual commotion. But I continue
the principles laid down by the system
from the eternal disorder. He taught himself
that any faction had power
to plot the most horrible mischief,
calling herself the Sovereign;
and there was no longer a government; there were no longer any judges,
nor congresses either, which were not
toy and joke of factious scoundrels.
Without any policy, the bosses
They never consult the reason of State
They do not even know that there is such a thing in the world;
nor do judges adhere to the laws,
because no one respects the laws;
Nor do principles reign in congresses,
if they are not the bochincheros principles.
This fuss, as it earned the title of,
not only harms those who live
on the ground that has become muddy,
but to all peoples and nations
who have their business with this;
because disorder must harm,
wherever its perverse influence reaches.
What commotion, for God's sake, what uproar
Can you go wrong with gossip?
That one and that one come from one part
of the mutinous people who resist
to power, to the law or the magistrate,
and it passes like a shower: it lasts a day,
more or less; but it soon ends.
In the gossip, no; no one is exempt
of being an actor in one way or another,
and hard as air, once strong,
then moderate, and other times
into a terrible hurricane.
Like the air, it also spreads and carries
the deadly vapor to the regions
further away from the evil spotlight.
Don't we see how they cross our seas
the Gallic and Spanish squadrons,
British and Dutch, attracted
for the thousand injustices that have been done
to all nations in the year
of the biggest scandal the world has ever seen?
And don't we see in this that the commotion,
It is not only the cause of internal disorder,
but from many external evils;
What do foreign states feel?
Serve Salvá as a north guide.
This notice is to make the amendment
that so much needs its dictionary;
and give the bochinche a powerful empire:
the colossal and permanent power
that never had a fleeting fuss,
nor a ridiculous and miserable uprising.
Let the Spanish do justice to the great
continental American bochinche,
that only a fool could confuse
with the sad Spanish riots,
that the pain is not worth writing,
and they seem like pure trifles to me.
Let my indignation cease, for I have fulfilled
by vindicating the name of bochinche,
the name given to Bolívar's son,
That is to say, the grandson, if you will. I leave,
Colombian gossip! vindicated
your illustrious exalted name, unfortunately
of bedbug and a consonant tantrum,
one thing that stinks, another that harasses.
Sovereign omnipotent gossip,
supreme regulator of Colombia!
You already know that I am very addicted to you.
and a great admirer of your wonders.
You live as long as you can, and I will live
to write your funeral eulogy.
