"A todos, tarde o temprano, Nos va entregando la vida."

[somediego]

Buenas tardes a todos! I have another question:

In Borges "Milonga De Calandria", the last stanza reads:

Se cuenta que una mujer
Fue y lo entregó a la partida;
A todos, tarde o temprano,
Nos va entregando la vida.

I don't know what "partida" means, the police? It has too many meanings in the dictionary.
And what "todos" is in "A todos, tarde o temprano, Nos va entregando la vida." My understanding is "Sooner or later, life will deliver all of us to something (chance? destruction?)".
Pls help me, Thanks!

[Rusty]

partida = departure, leaving
entregarse la vida = give one's life

Does this help?

[aleCcowaN]

partida = group of men "deputized" to pursue a fugitive (not necessarily a formally organized party), or group of fellows sent to deal with some enemy (it means party in the sense of hunting party -partida de caza/cacería- or raiding party -grupo de asalto-)

nos va entregando la vida = figuratively: life fails us / life gives us up

todos = everybody

[wrholt]

partida = group of men "deputized" to pursue a fugitive (not necessarily a formally organized party), or group of fellows sent to deal with some enemy (it means party in the sense of hunting party -partida de caza/cacería- or raiding party -grupo de asalto-)
...

Hmm, the first usage sounds a little bit like US English "posse" (pronounced "PAW-see", from a Latin expresion "posse comitatus"), which these days we associate with 19th-century Southwestern frontier culture.

[somediego]

Thanks!!!

[aleCcowaN]

Hmm, the first usage sounds a little bit like US English "posse" (pronounced "PAW-see", from a Latin expresion "posse comitatus"), which these days we associate with 19th-century Southwestern frontier culture.

Exactly that. Similar primitive context in the milonga involved.

Thanks!!!

You're welcome :)