Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
… And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Emily Dickinson ~ Hope
FEELING OF IMMORTALITY
Please stop, I need silence inside
Be quiet, there is so much noise
No longer is it possible to live
Words are floating away from me
Dragged along with the ocean tide
My body and soul are kept in piece
While walking along this seashore
Feelings are drawn away from me
Picked up by the unpredictable tide
Gone forever dragged into the deep
New waves keep arriving onshore
The water looks so tender and soft
But at the same time so very cruel
I am much aware of my vulnerability
So small am I in the presence of you
Why did you always need control
You have drowned my personality
And the water continued to call me
Always these same waveless voices
Why didn’t you just let me drift away
A meander of tears escaping my eyes
This desperate heart of mine is leaking
Flooding my remorse and bitter feelings
A pool which colors are nothing but dark
Slowly vaporized by the heat of hatred
The sand sticks to my feet as if a warning
But its no use I am encouraged to walk on
This luring abyss is dangerously present
A constant flux of changes but I hesitate
Before me the sun disappears at horizons end
I realize I am just focused on my own pain
Words no longer reach my sinking heart
But the emotional wound is cut too deep
I am desperately seeking my own relief
Do I honestly think this is not the end?
Monique Lucy Weberink
January, 2012
MONIQUE
UNA FLOR SE DESPERTO EN TU SOÑAR
VIAJANDO ENTRE ESTRELLAS Y SUSPIROS
And I know full well you won’t be there.
You won’t be in the street, in the hum that buzzes
from the arc lamps at night, nor in the gesture
of selecting from the menu, nor in the smile
that lightens people packed into the subway,
nor in the borrowed books, nor in the see-you-tomorrow.
You won’t be in my dreams,
in my words’ first destination,
nor will you be in a telephone number
or in the color of a pair of gloves or a blouse.
I’ll get angry, love, without it being on account of you,
and I’ll buy chocolates but not for you,
I’ll stop at the corner you’ll will never come to,
and I’ll say the words that are said
and I’ll eat the things that are eaten
and I’ll dream the dreams that are dreamed
and I know full well you won’t be there,
not here inside, in the prison where I still hold you,
nor there outside, in this river of streets and bridges.
You won’t be there at all, you won’t be even a memory,
and when I think of you I’ll be thinking a thought
that’s obscurely trying to recall you.
EL FUTURO
Y se muy bien que no estaras
No estaras en la calle, en el murmullo que brota de noche
de los postes de alumbrado, ni en el gesto
de elegir el menu, ni en la sonrisa
que alivia los completos en los subtes,
ni en los libros prestados ni en el hasta manana.
No estaras en mis suenos,
en el destino original de mis palabras,
ni en una cifra telefonica estaras
o en el color de un par de guantes o una blusa.
Me enojare, amor mio, sin que sea por ti,
y comprare bombones pero no para ti,
me parare en la esquina a la que non vendras,
y dire las palabras que se dicen
y comere las cosas que se comen
y sonare los suenos que se suenan
y se muy bien que no estaras,
ni aqui adentro, la carcel donde aun te retengo,
ni alli fuera, este rio de calles y de puentes.
No estaras para nada, no seras ni recuerdo,
y quando piense en ti pensare un pensamiento
que oscuramente trata de acordarse de ti.
JULIO CORTAZAR
“When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,
and when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
and get into the forests again,
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don’t know ourselves.
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taut with power,
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down,
we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like
burnt paper.”
THE BRIEF LOVE
How smoothly and how sweetly
she lifts me from the bed where I was dreaming
of profound and fragrant fields,
she runs her fingers over my skin and sketches me
in space, suspended, until the kiss
alights curved and recurrent
a slow flame kindling
the rhythmic dance of the bonfire
weaving us together in flashes, in spirals,
going and coming in a storm of smoke…
(So why is
what’s left of me, afterwards,
just a sinking into ashes
without a goodbye, with nothing more than a gesture
of letting our hands go free?)
Julio Cortazar
EL BREVE AMOR
Con qué tersa dulzura
me levanta del lecho en que soñaba
profundas plantaciones perfumadas,
me pasea los dedos por la piel y me dibuja
en le espacio, en vilo, hasta que el beso
se posa curvo y recurrente
para que a fuego lento empiece
la danza cadenciosa de la hoguera
tejiédose en ráfagas, en hélices,
ir y venir de un huracán de humo-
(¿Por qué, después,
lo que queda de mí
es sólo un anegarse entre las cenizas
sin un adiós, sin nada más que el gesto
de liberar las manos ?
JULIO CORTAZAR
The silent friendliness of the moon
(misquoting Virgil) accompanies you
since that one night or evening lost
in time now, on which your restless
eyes first deciphered her forever
in a garden or patio turned to dust.
Forever? I know someone, someday
will be able to tell you truthfully:
‘You’ll never see the bright moon again,
You’ve now achieved the unalterable
sum of moments granted you by fate.
Useless to open every window
in the world. Too late. You’ll not find her.’
We live discovering and forgetting
that sweet familiarity of the night.
Take a long look. It might be the last.
Jorge Luis Borges
Painting is “Moon light over the Seine”
Henry Pether (1828-1865)
The lighthouse opens
its solar fan on the coast.
Spinning endlessly at night,
whom is it searching for
when the mortal heart
looks for me in the chest?
Look at the black rock
where it is nailed down.
A crow digs endlessly
but no longer bleeds.
