EL CAPITÁN DEPRIMIDO (the captain depress)

En alta mar y a la deriva yace el barco merced a los caprichos de la naturaleza. La tripulación descansa. No se trata de un motín, por el momento: el capitán está deprimido, eso es todo. Pero no hay rumbo. Y se masca rebelión en el sudor seco de los hombres, el ron apremia lo inevitable. Las olas azotan el camarote del capitán, indeciso o más bien decidido a no hacer absolutamente nada. Extiende su cuaderno de bitácora, escribe algunos versos. No me molesten, quiero estar sólo, fue su última orden. Y mientras el barco navega lejos de la tierra, justo en medio de la nada del océano. Insiste el oleaje contra su camarote y él con sus versos (preguntas sin respuesta, letras que no dicen nada). La tripulación definitivamente borracha y decidida abandona el descanso. El sol brilla en el cielo mostrando cicatrices en cubierta. Finalmente ocurre: tocan a la puerta de su camarote desobedeciendo. Y en ése preciso instante el capitán deprimido carga el arcabuz, abandona el cuaderno de bitácora, coloca su daga entre los dientes y haya el rumbo que buscaba, justo en medio de la nada del océano.

THE CAPTAIN DEPRESSED

In the open sea and adrift, the ship is at the mercy of the whims of the nature. The ship´s crew is resting. There is no question of mutiny for the time being: the captain is depressed, that is all. But there are no winds therefore there is no course. Rebellion is stirring in the form of the dry perspiration of the men. The rum urges them towards the inevitable thing.

The waves lash against the captain´s cabin, he´s indecisive or rather determined to do absolutely nothing. He smooths out his logbook and writes some verses. Do not disturb me, I want to be alone, that was his final order. And meanwhile the ship sails far from land, in the middle of nowhere in the ocean. The waves incessantly batter his cabin and him with his poems (questions without response, letters that do not express anything).

The convincingly intoxicated and determined crew abandons their rest. The sun shines in the heavens, uncovering all the scars on the deck. It finally happens, they knock on his cabin door disobediently. And in this instant the depressed captain abandons his logbook, loads his arquebus, places his dagger between his teeth and at last he takes the course that he was seeking, in the middle of the ocean.

(Thanks Manni).