At the end of this journey...

At the end of this journey through life our bodies will remain;
Swollen bodies because of going to death, to hate, to the shore of the sea.

At the end of this journey through life our trace will remain;
A trace inviting others to live.
At least that is the reason that I am still here.

We are prehistory that the future will possess,
We are the remote annals of mankind.
These years are the past of Heaven;
These years are some kind of agility
that the sun is using to draw you in the future;
They are the truth or the end, they are God.

The ones remaining are those capable of smiling
in the midst of death, in broad light.

At the end of this journey through life
a cure of love and time will remain;
a gauze to wrap an old pain.
At the end of this journey through life
our bodies laying under the sun will remain,
just as white sheets remain after love.

At the end of the journey is the horizon,
at the end of the journey we will leave again,
at the end of the journey a new path starts,
another good path to follow as we count the sand with bare feet.

At the end of the journey you and I are untouched.

The ones staying are those capable of smiling
in the midst of death, in broad light.
In broad light

Silvio Rodriguez

Video dedicated to my uncle Fernando Rene Giron. He died of stomach cancer on 6/16/2011-
Music by Silvio Rodriguez "At the end of this journey" (Al final de este viaje).

The short dream of the eternal sleep

In order for me
to be
the walls need to fall
dissapear

as I
am not a thing contained
in a body
and I
am not the thing outside

I am the inside
and the outside

is
the mind
of the mortal
the mind
of the short dream

"It, starts from here
and ends over there"

repeat
and repeat
I started to believe
and now
i find my self inside
constantly longing to be out

Let me out
let me be



by:

Say I am You

I am dust particles in sunlight,

I am the round sun.

To the bits of dust I say, Stay.

To the sun, Keep moving.

I am morning mist,

and the breathing of evening.

I am wind in the top of a grove,

and surf on the cliff.

Mast, rudder, helmsman, and keel,

I am also the coral reef they founder on.

I am a tree with a trained parrot in its branches.

Silence, thought, and voice.

The musical air coming through a flute,

a spark of stone, a flickering

in metal. Both candle,

and the moth crazy around it.

Rose, and the nightingale

lost in the fragrance.

I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy,

the evolutionary intelligence, the lift,

and the falling away. What is,

and what isn't. You who know

Jelaluddin, You the one

in all, say who

I am. Say I

am You.


Poem by Jelaluddin Rumi

A Moment Of Happiness

'A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden's beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.'

Rumi

An extract from “Mourning Lu Yin” by Meng Chiao

Celestial immortals mourn such a sage-
Bones transformed, spirit becomes stars

Your poems all rising through heaven,
Sharpening constellations into bright

Clarities. Like the rarest ancient poems,
Your are pure spirit. We call ethereal

Poets of renown banished immortals,
Ascending and descending without end.

For in poems we’re made pure by death
And without them we live mean lives.

Struck metal’s the perfect song for you,
Song bequeathed all repose down all time.

Amor 77

Y después de hacer todo lo que hacen, se levantan, se bañan, se entalcan, se perfuman,
se peinan, se visten, y así progresivamente van volviendo a ser lo que no son.

Julio Cortazar

And after doing all they do they rise from their bed, they bathe, powder and perfume their persons, they dress, and gradually return to being what they are not.

Julio Cortazar

Frida en el Espejo / Frida in the Mirror

FRIDA EN EL ESPEJO
by Adrian Arias


Hoy me levanté temprano
más temprano que siempre –que nunca-
solo para verle la cara al día
y descubrir que sigo viva en flor

Dicen que estoy muerta pero
yo no les creo yo
soy una mujer de acero
mi cuerpo se quema con el agua
y arde en tus ojos la pasión del sol

Hoy mi cuerpo de hierbas se cubre
hoy mi carne es tu carne tu fuego
hoy mi soledad es tu danza
mi cabello tu esperanza

Si la vida te la arranca el tiempo
la pasión te la devuelve el viento

Yo que viajé en secreto hasta tu tiempo
(secreto)
trenzando tus sueños sin dueño
quiero darle color a tu alma
con el profundo azul de mi pincel pequeño

Ven mírame al espejo quiero verte descubrir
que tu también eres Frida
Matilde Aurora Meklit
Que también eres Ramona
Adelita y Valentina
la bella Rosa Marina, Tania, Eva y Trinidad

que tu eres la medicina que cura
la vida, el hambre y la locura

Tu que andas vendiendo flores – colores-
tu que andas masticando ilusiones
ven mírate al espejo quiero verte descubrir
tu Juana, tu Sofía, Irene Andrea Jazmín
a Diana Sabina Verónica y René
Sachiko, Amanda Mabel
Fátima Araceli Elena Laurita
Susana Ofelia Dolores Jamille
Iris Carolina Rosario Inés
Adriana Palomita y Anaís

Hoy me levanté temprano
para verte descubrir
tu soledad, mi soledad
que tu eres la fruta fresca
pintando tu realidad

Si la vida te la arranca el tiempo
la pasión te la devuelve el viento

-------
FRIDA AT THE MIRROR

Today I woke up early
earlier than usual –than ever
just to see the day’s face
and discover that I’m still alive blossoming

They say I’m dead but I don’t believe them
I am woman of steel and bone
my body burns with the water
and sun’s passion flames in your eyes

Today my body of herbs is covered
today my flesh is your flesh your fire
if time plucks your life
the wind will return your passion

I who painted my own reality
now paint your unowned dreams
come look at the mirror and discover
that you too are Frida, Carmen,
Nina, Matilde, Silvia, Meklit.
Magdalena, Rosa, Eva, Esperanza,
you are the medicine that cures
life, hunger and madness
Carolina, Tania, Clara, and Jazmin
carrying roots of the heart
carrying tomorrow in your smile

You that goes around selling flowers -colors-
you that goes around chewing illusions
you that goes around praying because there is no more
here I am because the journey is happy
look in the mirror and discover
that you too are Frida and Juana
Sonia, Irene, Andrea and Namaste
Sara, Marcela, Ana and Soledad
painting your own reality.


Adrian Arias 2008
translation by Nina Serrano