Gladys ilarregui
gladys@udel.edu
Presages*
(translated
by Judy McInnis)
a) First the wind arrives enveloping
the sacred objects in a pale yellow.
b) then the taste of wild strawberries
that bursts from the trees
c) later a lamp appears illuminating
the room where one is writing
d) a splendor that shakes the windows
like
a big shower heavy with words
e) finally between the stems of one’s
fingers
an idea that can blossom breaks forth
f) rapidly a sketch, a cloud, a
dove passes, the world loses meaning
g) the interior destiny becomes present
and the present is presage, nothing of what
I touch, I feel I see can be transferable to your
senses
sometimes I split, I descend, I touch
my feet, I walk paths that are only possible
certain daybreaks and two or three poems.
*Published in Spanish in Revista
Proa,
Enero/Febrero 2000, Buenos Aires.
Jorge Luis Borges Prize, 1999.
*************
From :
The Wind’s Memory
The woman
who writes these poems
Memory has syllables that always hope
to reach the point of
touching the green water and dying among the fish
that look upon
what we do not understand, without blinking, silent,
alone
the imperceptible passage from life to death thus
they travel
among flowers that seem blue or lilac
or celestial and do not lose
their petals because of the dawn, because of the autumn
they travel
And do not fear growing old or being
less certain in the world
or understanding that they have been wrong, or been
afraid
for having caused harm or for not caressing with one
of their hands
they travel
because they have to reach some dark
destiny that we
would not know how to explain, beset by desires as
we are
so overflowing with shining imperfect desires
taking with them the best years, and the days that
we might
have used not to desire.
In my fortieth year, I do not wish
to desire.
I want to gaze like a fixed stone
upon all the marvels of the instant.
The ephemeral route of the foam that travels
With its abc book of broken bottles
And pearl buttoms, and footprints of people in love
once, on the beach.
(Jorge Luis Borges Prize, 1999/ Translated
by Dr. Judy B. McInnis).
|
