Hi guys! This time I want to share with you a poem I found inspiring lately. Jorge Luis Borges has a very penetrant way of expressing thoughts and emotions through poetry. Reading him is always a blessing and enlightenment for me. This pandemic time is also a time of insights and touching the world differently. This poem couldn't be more challenging in this respect. I will start with the Spanish version because, as I remember being told in a movie [if I remember well I guess it was Tarkovsky's ''Nostalghia'']...The poetry cannot be translated...well, yes...because the poet speaks truly in his native language, being able to express the most of the poem...translation lose a lot from the original senses. And still, Borges is great translated.
Hope it inspires you also!
馃檹
La dicha
El que abraza a una mujer es Ad谩n.
La mujer es Eva.
Todo sucede por primera vez.
He visto una cosa blanca en el cielo.
Me dicen que es la luna, pero qu茅 puedo
hacer con una palabra y con una mitolog铆a.
Los 谩rboles me dan un poco de miedo.
Son tan hermosos.
Los tranquilos animales se acercan
para que yo les diga su nombre.
Los libros de la biblioteca no tienen letras.
Cuando los abro surgen.
Al hojear el atlas proyecto la forma de Sumatra.
El que prende un f贸sforo en el oscuro
est谩 inventando el fuego.
En el espejo hay otro que acecha.
El que mira el mar ve a Inglaterra.
El que profiere un verso de Liliencron
ha entrado en la batalla.
He so帽ado a Cartago y a las legiones
que desolaron a Cartago.
He so帽ado la espada y la balanza.
Loado sea el amor en el que no hay poseedor
ni pose铆da, pero los dos se entregan.
Loada sea la pesadilla, que nos revela
que podemos crear el infierno.
El que desciende a un r铆o desciende al Ganges.
El que mira un reloj de arena ve
la disoluci贸n de un imperio.
El que juega con un pu帽al
presagia la muerte de C茅sar.
El que duerme es todos los hombres.
En el desierto vi la joven Esfinge,
que acaban de labrar.
Nada hay tan antiguo bajo el sol.
Todo sucede por primera vez,
pero de un modo eterno.
El que lee mis palabras est谩 invent谩ndolas.
Happiness
He who embraces a woman is Adam. The woman is Eve.
Everything happens for the first time.
I've seen a white thing in the sky. They tell me it's the moon, but
what can I do with a word and with a mythology.
Trees scare me a little. They're so beautiful.
The calm animals approach so that I can tell them their name.
The books in the library have no letters. When I open them they appear.
Leafing through the atlas I plan the shape of Sumatra.
He who lights a match in the dark is inventing fire.
In the mirror there's an other man stalking.
He who looks at the sea sees England.
He who utters a verse by Liliencron has joined the battle.
I've dreamed of Carthage and of the legions that ravaged Carthage.
I've dreamed of the sword and the scales.
Praised be that love where there's no owner nor owned, but the two give themselves over.
Praised be the nightmare, which reveals to us that we can create hell.
He who descends to a river descends to the Ganges.
He who looks at an hourglass sees the dissolution of an empire.
He who plays with a dagger foretells the death of Caesar.
He who sleeps is all men.
In the desert I saw the young Sphinx, newly carved.
There is nothing ancient under the sun.
Everything happens for the first time, but in an eternal way.
He who reads my words is inventing them.
You can find the source of the poem in both English and Spanish right here