Our LitMag class holds poetry readings during lunch sometimes. We sell Easy-Mac and popcorn, and enthusiastically read poetry with all who want to spend their free time with us. Sometimes people read their own, some read from books, and others choose to improvise. We sometimes create a group poem (all add a line), which can be hysterical, sometimes there is music, and of course, we end with a rousing receipt reading (any receipt will do, as long as it is read with gusto!); it's tradition! Anyway, today we had a poetry reading and I wanted to share with you a poem by Jorge Luis Borges. This was read by Kristen, one of my LitMaggers, and it was stunning! Enjoy!
Happiness
Whoever embraces a woman is Adam. The woman is Eve.
Everything happens for the first time.
I saw something white in the sky. They tell me it's the moon, but
What can I do with a word and a mythology.
Trees frighten me a little. They are so beautiful.
The calm animals come closer so that I may tell them their names.
The books in the libraries have no letters. They spring forth when I open them.
Leafing through the atlas I project the shape of Sumatra.
Whoever lights a match in the dark is inventing fire.
Inside the mirror an Other waits in ambush.
Whoever looks at the ocean sees England.
Whoever utters a line of Liliencron has entered into battle.
I have dreamed of Carthage and the legions that destroyed Catharge.
I have dreamed the sword and the scale.
Praised be the love wherein there is no possessor and no possessed, but both surrender.
Praised be the nightmare, which reveals to us that we have the power to create hell.
Whoever goes down to a river goes down to the Ganges.
Whoever looks at an hourglass sees the dissolution of an empire.
Whoever plays with a dagger foretells the death of Caesar.
Whoever dreams is every human being.
In the desert I saw the young Sphinx, which has just been sculpted.
There is nothing else so ancient under the sun.
Everything happens for the first time, but in a way that is eternal.
Whoever reads my words is inventing them.
1 comment:
"Trees frighten me a little. They are so beautiful."
YES! I miss them. As you find it silly to love fall but live in this autumnless place, whenever I am near the vast green of a stand of tall trees I think, "why do I live in a place on the map where the green turns to yellow?"
The trees were one of my favorite parts of our visit to Neuschwanstein. I didn't say that because I figured most people would find the castle or the view or the quaintess of the town vastly more interesting, but I just want to walk into the forest.
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