se te hubieran volado??
Hello all,
I was reading (trying to read) Pablo Neruda's poem, "me gustas cuando callas"
The first paragraph goes...
Me gustas cuando callas porque estás como ausente, y me oyes desde lejos, y mi voz no te toca. Parece que los ojos se te hubieren volado y parece que un beso te cerrara la boca.
The "se te hubieran volado" bit is giving me trouble, the translation on the website says that "your eyes seem to have flown"
I dont understand what the "se" or the "te" are doing there. Is "se" an indirect object or is volar a reflexive verb or is it some sort of passive construction? My other theory is that the translation is wrong and its the poets eyes that are flying to the silent girl.
Any help greatly appreciated.
2 Answers
The "se te hubieran volado" bit is giving me trouble, the translation on the website says that "your eyes seem to have flown"
I dont understand what the "se" or the "te" are doing there. Is "se" an indirect object or is volar a reflexive verb or is it some sort of passive construction? My other theory is that the translation is wrong and its the poets eyes that are flying to the silent girl.
If you say "los ojos hubieren volado", then your eyes would have flown in the strict sense of the word, making you wonder where to. On the other hand, "los ojos se hubieren volado" means the the eyes could have flown away or disappeared, which is not quite the same. That "te" indicates whose eyes have flown away or disappeared.
It is a VERY common construction in Spanish, and books ignore it, for some reason.
Maybe another example would help-- if you lost your voice, like with a cold, you could say "Se me fue la voz" . It is saying that your voice went away, but that you didn't cause it, and it is affecting you.
So, "se te hubieran volado los ojos" would be something like "your eyes shut on you" or "your eyes went away on you" "your eyes became distant".
Add into that the fact that this is poetry and symbolic, and there is a lot of space for interpretation. Looking at the entire poem I would say it continues the idea of her being distant, so the eyes could be closed in sleep, veiled, not seeing, or having the appearance of death. I relate personally to the feeling of being really tired and your eyes kind of close involuntarily.
