If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Empty Space
There were two kingdoms only:
the first of them threw out both him and me.
The second we abandoned.
Under a bare sky
I for a long time soaked in the rain of my body,
he for a long time rotted in the rain of his.
Then like a poison he drank the fondness of the years.
He held my hand with a trembling hand.
“Come, let’s have a roof over our heads awhile.
Look, further on ahead, there
between truth and falsehood, a little empty space.”
Amrita Pritam
translated from the Punjabi by D.H. Tracy & Mohan Tracy
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Clay: 24
He took a chair
out to the garden
watched the shadow
kicked a stone.
Most of all
of late
the words hate me.
Yannis Ritsos
Athens—January 18, 1978
out to the garden
watched the shadow
kicked a stone.
Most of all
of late
the words hate me.
Yannis Ritsos
Athens—January 18, 1978
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Like the Leaves
Forgetting
is like leaves.
Some fall
others are born.
They stop being leaves
only when the tree
stops being a tree.
is like leaves.
Some fall
others are born.
They stop being leaves
only when the tree
stops being a tree.
Monday, October 19, 2009
No One Belongs Here More Than You
"If there were a map of the solar system, but instead of stars it showed people and their degrees of separation, my star would be the one you had to travel the most light-years from to get to his. You would die getting to him."
Thursday, April 09, 2009
And the sea, my friend, does not dream of you
Open to them your hand to the shore, watch them walk into the sea.
Press upon them all they need, see them yearn for all they want.
Gift to them the calm pool of words, watch them drove the sword.
Bless upon them the satiation of peace, see them starve from war.
Grant them darkness and they will lust for light.
Deliver to them death and hear them beg for life.
Beget life and they will murder your kin.
Be as they are and they will see you different.
Show wisdom and you are a fool
The shore gives way to the sea
And the sea, my friend,
Does not dream of you.
Press upon them all they need, see them yearn for all they want.
Gift to them the calm pool of words, watch them drove the sword.
Bless upon them the satiation of peace, see them starve from war.
Grant them darkness and they will lust for light.
Deliver to them death and hear them beg for life.
Beget life and they will murder your kin.
Be as they are and they will see you different.
Show wisdom and you are a fool
The shore gives way to the sea
And the sea, my friend,
Does not dream of you.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Wind and Water and Stone
The water hollowed the stone,
the wind dispersed the water,
the stone stopped the wind.
Water and wind and stone.
The wind sculpted the stone,
the stone is a cup of water,
The water runs off and is wind.
Stone and wind and water.
The wind sings in its turnings,
the water murmurs as it goes,
the motionless stone is quiet.
Wind and water and stone.
One is the other and is neither:
among their empty names
they pass and disappear,
water and stone and wind.
Octavio Paz
the wind dispersed the water,
the stone stopped the wind.
Water and wind and stone.
The wind sculpted the stone,
the stone is a cup of water,
The water runs off and is wind.
Stone and wind and water.
The wind sings in its turnings,
the water murmurs as it goes,
the motionless stone is quiet.
Wind and water and stone.
One is the other and is neither:
among their empty names
they pass and disappear,
water and stone and wind.
Octavio Paz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
