Poem
Santiago Barcaza
The journey
Call it a treeAnd in doing so describe
Whatever
What you see
Nothing if you prefer
Or the vague idea that one holds
Of the unplanted tree
That grew and came to know
The weight of the Earth
Much earlier than the Earth
Nothing if you like
But nothing has an end
In the idea of the tree
Lips reduce the eye
That can no longer see anything
That isn’t itself
And at the same time
Your voice
Comes undone between leaves and branches
The white rocks of the moon
Appear on the west
You must go
As wisdom has gone
Time defeated your ancestors
As the image and the voice
That described that image have gone
Call it a tree
In your leaving
That if the end arrives
It also shall pass.
© Translation: 2014, Erin Goodman
El viaje
El viaje
Llámalo árbolY así describir
No importa
Lo que ves
Nada si prefieres
O la vaga idea que se tiene
Del árbol no plantado
Que creció y conoció
El peso de la Tierra
Mucho antes de la Tierra
Nada si prefieres
Pero nada tiene fin
En la idea del árbol
Los labios reducen al ojo
Que ya no puede ver nada
Que no sea lo que es
Y al mismo tiempo
Tu voz
Se deshace entre hojas y ramas
La piedra blanca de la luna
Surge en occidente
Debes irte
Como se ha ido la sabiduría
Que el tiempo arrebató
A tus antepasados
Como se ha ido la imagen
Y la voz que describió esa imagen
Llámalo árbol
En tu despedida
Que si el final llega
También pasará.
© 2014, Santiago Barcaza
From: Bosques horizontales
Publisher: Ediciones Tácitas, Santiago de Chile
From: Bosques horizontales
Publisher: Ediciones Tácitas, Santiago de Chile
Poems
Poems of Santiago Barcaza
Close
The journey
Call it a treeAnd in doing so describe
Whatever
What you see
Nothing if you prefer
Or the vague idea that one holds
Of the unplanted tree
That grew and came to know
The weight of the Earth
Much earlier than the Earth
Nothing if you like
But nothing has an end
In the idea of the tree
Lips reduce the eye
That can no longer see anything
That isn’t itself
And at the same time
Your voice
Comes undone between leaves and branches
The white rocks of the moon
Appear on the west
You must go
As wisdom has gone
Time defeated your ancestors
As the image and the voice
That described that image have gone
Call it a tree
In your leaving
That if the end arrives
It also shall pass.
© 2014, Erin Goodman
From: Bosques horizontales
From: Bosques horizontales
The journey
Call it a treeAnd in doing so describe
Whatever
What you see
Nothing if you prefer
Or the vague idea that one holds
Of the unplanted tree
That grew and came to know
The weight of the Earth
Much earlier than the Earth
Nothing if you like
But nothing has an end
In the idea of the tree
Lips reduce the eye
That can no longer see anything
That isn’t itself
And at the same time
Your voice
Comes undone between leaves and branches
The white rocks of the moon
Appear on the west
You must go
As wisdom has gone
Time defeated your ancestors
As the image and the voice
That described that image have gone
Call it a tree
In your leaving
That if the end arrives
It also shall pass.
© 2014, Erin Goodman
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