We all are time, and the years
are not what passes by but we are…
Octavio Paz
1.
I was sent to investigate
Persecuted and disdained
And reconciled
To lose myself along the roads
To be bound in ashes
Like a deaf dog
Like a swallowed vowel to be dumb
Not able to return the cry of pain
In dark puddles
To be picked up by the rime
2.
And indeed I disappear
Under a glistering baking-tray
My spirit found
A new earthen hut
I was taken by someone else
and carried into unbeing
3.
I am now a hope
That never arrives
In the dry fountain
A gurgle that never stops
A shadow of shadows from the cloud
That pours itself out
An invisible tail of Cogito and Sum
A moon without change
Without waxing or waning
And a sea
And marble solitude
An empty grave that walks
The heavens
4.
And who knows whether I am
Daybreak
A vision
Or a thought-deed
That vanishes like lightning:
We are all time
Years and the primeval age
Are not what passes by
We are…
Translation: A. Taneski and G. Reid