Soneto XVII

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego: te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras, secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma. Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores, y gracias a … Read more

Sonnet XLII: I Hunt For A Sign Of You

I hunt for a sign of you in all the others,In the rapid undulant river of women,Braids, shyly sinking eyes,Light step that slices, sailing through the foam. Suddenly I think I can make out your nails,Oblong, quick, nieces of a cherry:Then it’s your hair that passes by, and I thinkI see your image, a bonfire, … Read more

The Men

I’m Ramón González Barbagelata from anywhere, from Cucuy, from Paraná, from Rio Turbio, from Oruro, from Maracaibo, from Parral, from Ovalle, from Loconmilla, I’m the poor devil from the poor Third World, I’m the third-class passenger installed, good God! in the lavish whiteness of snow-covered mountains, concealed among orchids of subtle idiosyncrasy. I’ve arrived at … Read more

Tonight I can write the saddest lines

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example,’The night is shatteredand the blue stars shiver in the distance.’ The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through nights like this one I held her in my armsI … Read more

Song Of Despair

The memory of you emerges from the night around me.The river mingles its stubborn lament with the sea. Deserted like the wharves at dawn.It is the hour of departure, oh deserted one! Cold flower heads are raining over my heart.Oh pit of debris, fierce cave of the shipwrecked. In you the wars and the flights … Read more

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,in secret, between the shadow and the soul. I love you as the plant that never bloomsbut carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;thanks to … Read more

The Night in Isla Negra

Ancient night and the unruly saltbeat at the walls of my house.The shadow is all one, the skythrobs now along with the ocean,and sky and shadow eruptin the crash of their vast conflict.All night long they struggle;nobody knows the nameof the harsh light that keeps slowly openinglike a languid fruit.So on the coast comes to … Read more

Tower Of Light

O tower of light, sad beautythat magnified necklaces and statues in the sea,calcareous eye, insignia of the vast waters, cryof the mourning petrel, tooth of the sea, wifeof the Oceanian wind, O separate rosefrom the long stem of the trampled bushthat the depths, converted into archipelago,O natural star, green diadem,alone in your lonesome dynasty,still unattainable, … Read more

Sonnet IX: There where the waves shatter

There where the waves shatter on the restless rocksthe clear light bursts and enacts its rose,and the sea-circle shrinks to a cluster of buds,to one drop of blue salt, falling. O bright magnolia bursting in the foam,magnetic transient whose death bloomsand vanishes–being, nothingness–forever:broken salt, dazzling lurch of the sea. You & I, Love, together we … Read more