not a pretty picture. not a good. not a bad. picture. but an argument.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

untitled


From: Diario de Poeta y Mar,  "Rose of the Sea", by Juan Ramón Jiménez
(translated by James Wright)

The white moon takes the sea away from the sea
and gives it back to the sea.  Beautiful,
conquering by means of the pure and tranquil,
the moon compels the truth to delude itself
that it is truth become whole, eternal, solitary,
though it is not so.

                            Yes,

                                   Divine plainness,
you pierce the familiar certainty, you place
a new soul into whatever is real.
Unpredictable rose! you took the rose away
from the rose, and you could give back
the rose to the rose.