Hermandad, Octavio Paz

Soy hombre: duro poco 
y es enorme la noche. 
Pero miro hacia arriba: 
las estrellas escriben. 
Sin entender comprendo: 
también soy escritura 
y en este mismo instante 
alguien me deletrea.

Octavio Paz, Wind,Water,Stone

Wind, Water, Stone

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BY Ocavio Paz

TRANSLATED BY  Eliot Weinberger

for Roger Caillois

Water hollows stone,

wind scatters water,

stone stops the wind.

Water, wind, stone.

Wind carves stone,

stone's a cup of water,

water escapes and is wind.

Stone, wind, water.

Wind sings in its whirling,

water murmurs going by,

unmoving stone keeps still.

Wind, water, stone.

Each is another and no other:

crossing and vanishing

through their empty names:

water, stone, wind.

Movimiento,Octavio Paz

Motion

If you are the amber mare
              I am the road of blood
If you are the first snow
              I am he who lights the hearth of dawn
If you are the tower of night
              I am the spike burning in your mind
If you are the morning tide
              I am the first bird's cry
If you are the basket of oranges
              I am the knife of the sun
If you are the stone altar
              I am the sacrilegious hand
If you are the sleeping land
              I am the green cane
If you are the wind's leap
              I am the buried fire
If you are the water's mouth
              I am the mouth of moss
If you are the forest of the clouds
              I am the axe that parts it
If you are the profaned city
              I am the rain of consecration
If you are the yellow mountain
              I am the red arms of lichen
If you are the rising sun
              I am the road of blood

Movimiento

Si tú eres la yegua de ámbar
              yo soy el camino de sangre
Si tú eres la primer nevada
              yo soy el que enciende el brasero del alba
Si tú eres la torre de la noche
              yo soy el clavo ardiendo en tu frente
Si tú eres la marea matutina
              yo soy el grito del primer pájaro
Si tú eres la cesta de naranjas
              yo soy el cuchillo de sol
Si tú eres el altar de piedra
              yo soy la mano sacrílega
Si tú eres la tierra acostada
              yo soy la caña verde
Si tú eres el salto del viento
              yo soy el fuego enterrado
Si tú eres la boca del agua
              yo soy la boca del musgo
Si tú eres el bosque de las nubes
              yo soy el hacha que las parte
Si tú eres la ciudad profanada
              yo soy la lluvia de consagración
Si tú eres la montaña amarilla
              yo soy los brazos rojos del liquen
Si tú eres el sol que se levanta
              yo soy el camino de sangre

Octavio Paz,Entre partir e ficar

stolen with joy


'Entre partir e ficar hesita o dia,
enamorado de sua transparência.

A tarde circular é uma baía:
em seu quieto vai e vem se move o mundo.

Tudo é visível e tudo é ilusório,
tudo está perto e tudo é intocável.

Os papéis, o livro, o vaso, o lápis
repousam à sombra de seus nomes.

Pulsar do tempo que em minha têmpora repete
a mesma e insistente sílaba de sangue.

A luz faz do muro indiferente
Um espectral teatro de reflexos.

No centro de um olho me descubro;
Não me vê, não me vejo em seu olhar.

Dissipa-se o instante. Sem mover-me,
eu permaneço e parto: sou uma pausa'

'Between going and staying 
the day wavers, 
in love with its own transparency. 
The circular afternoon is now a bay 
where the world in stillness rocks. 

All is visible and all elusive, 
all is near and can’t be touched. 

Paper, book, pencil, glass, 
rest in the shade of their names. 

Time throbbing in my temples repeats 
the same unchanging syllable of blood. 

The light turns the indifferent wall 
into a ghostly theater of reflections. 

I find myself in the middle of an eye, 
watching myself in its blank stare. 

The moment scatters. Motionless, 
I stay and go: I am a pause.'

Between going and staying, Octavio Paz

Between going and staying
the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.

All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can’t be touched.

Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.

Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.

The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.

I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.

The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause. 

PS: i guess this is not the best translation.
But i copied it anyway.
I appreciate the poem, the pause, and i know this state of being very well.

As One Listens to the Rain, Octavio Paz

Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,
water that is air, air that is time,
the day is still leaving,
the night has yet to arrive,
figurations of mist
at the turn of the corner,
figurations of time
at the bend in this pause,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
without listening, hear what I say
with eyes open inward, asleep
with all five senses awake,
it's raining, light footsteps, a murmur of syllables,
air and water, words with no weight:
what we are and are,
the days and years, this moment,
weightless time and heavy sorrow,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
wet asphalt is shining,
steam rises and walks away,
night unfolds and looks at me,
you are you and your body of steam,
you and your face of night,
you and your hair, unhurried lightning,
you cross the street and enter my forehead,
footsteps of water across my eyes,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
the asphalt's shining, you cross the street,
it is the mist, wandering in the night,
it is the night, asleep in your bed,
it is the surge of waves in your breath,
your fingers of water dampen my forehead,
your fingers of flame burn my eyes,
your fingers of air open eyelids of time,
a spring of visions and resurrections,
listen to me as one listens to the rain,
the years go by, the moments return,
do you hear the footsteps in the next room?
not here, not there: you hear them
in another time that is now,
listen to the footsteps of time,
inventor of places with no weight, nowhere,
listen to the rain running over the terrace,
the night is now more night in the grove,
lightning has nestled among the leaves,
a restless garden adrift-go in,
your shadow covers this page.

Water Night - Octavio Paz

Water Night - Octavio Paz

Night with the eyes of a horse that trembles in the night,
night with eyes of water in the field asleep
is in your eyes, a horse that trembles,
is in your eyes of a secret water.

Eyes of shadow-water,
eyes of well-water,
eyes of dream-water.

Silence and solitude,
two little animals moon-led,
drink in your eyes,
drink in those waters.

If you open your eyes,
night opens, doors of musk,
the secret kingdom of the water opens
flowing from the center of night.

And if you close your eyes,
a river fills you from within,
flows forward, darkens you:
night brings its wetness to beaches in your soul.