Your Eyes

-

Your eyes are the homeland
Of the tear and the lightning bolt,
Silence that speaks,
Tempests without wind,
Sea without waves, jailed birds,
Somnolent golden beasts,
Impious topazes like Truth,
Autumn in a forest glade
Where light sings upon the shoulders
Of a tree with leaves like birds.
Beach that the morning finds
As a constellation of eyes,
Basket filled with fruits of fire,
Lie that feeds,
Mirrors of this world,
Gateways to the hereafter,
Gentle pulse of the sea at noon,
Moor, absolute which blinks.

*******
✍  Octavio Paz (Mexico City, 31 March 1914 ~ Mexico City, 19 April 1998). 
*Translated by Horacio S. 
◙ Artwork: Moïse Kisling

*******


Popular posts from this blog

Finding the Words

-
Image
"It is occasionally possible, just for brief moments, to find the words that will unlock the doors of all those many mansions in the head and express something – perhaps not much, just something – of the crush of information that presses in on us from the way a crow flies over and the way a man walks and the look of a street and from what we did one day a dozen years ago. Words that will express something of the deep complexity that makes us precisely the way we are." ******* ✎ Edward James "Ted" Hughes (Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England, 17 August 1930 ~ London, England, 28 October 1998). ◙ Artwork: Hughie Lee-Smith.
Read more

Our Own Light

-
Image
"The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their Idealism—and their assumption of Immortality. As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong -and lucky- he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile ...
Read more

Nobody's Darling

-
Image
Be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast. Take the contradictions Of your life And wrap around You like a shawl, To parry stones To keep you warm. Watch the people succumb To madness With ample cheer; Let them look askance at you And you askance reply. Be an outcast; Be pleased to walk alone (Uncool) Or line the crowded River beds With other impetuous Fools. Make a merry gathering On the bank Where thousands perished For brave hurt words They said. But be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast. Qualified to live Among your dead. ******* ✎ Alice Walker (b. Eatonton, Georgia, U.S., 9 February 1944).
Read more