Friday, June 30, 2006

Melanie, the wait is over :)

Born in 1899 Borges lost his sight in 1955 and died in 1986. For 31 years this man who loved books, who used libraries, reading, words as potent symbols, was denied that which he greatly if not uniquely loved. As a devoted reader myself just the thought of not having the ability to pursue this passion called reading is frightening and yet I sit in admiration of a person who continued regardless not only to write but to enjoy a rich literary life.

Beppo
The celibate white cat surveys himself
in the mirror's clear-eyed glass,
not suspecting that the whiteness facing him
and those gold eyes that he's not seen before
in ramblings through the house are his own likeness.
Who is to tell him the cat observing him
is only the mirror's way of dreaming?
I remind myself that these concordant cats-
the one of glass, the one with warm blood coursing-
are both mere simulacra granted time
by a timeless archetype. In the Enneads
Plotinus, himself a shade, has said as much.
Of what Adam predating paradise,
of what inscrutable divinity
are all of us a broken mirror image?
(1981)
***
Beppo
El gato blanco y celibe se mira
en la lucida luna del espejo
Y no puede saber que esa blancura
y esos ojos de oro que no ha visto
nunca en la casa son su propia imagen.
?Quien la dira que el otro que lo observa
es apenas un sueno del espejo?
Me digo que esos gatos armoniosos,
el de cristal y el de caliente sangre,
son simulacros que concede al tiempo
un aquetipo eterno. Asi lo afirma,
sombra tambien, Plotino en las Enneadas.
?De que Adian anterior al paraiso,
de que divinidad indescrifrable
somos los hombres un espejo roto?
(1981)

3 Comments:

Blogger teabird said...

What an inspired choice!
Will there be specific poems to read?

Thank you!!

melanie

12:17 PM  
Blogger chittavrtti said...

I'm going to post a daily selection. But there's no assigned reading. Keep in mind he wrote poetry, essays, short stories, reviews,introductions, "dictations".... So if you're online or in a book place and feel like browsing do. I'd love to hear what others have to say about what they find :)***CV

7:23 PM  
Blogger Paula said...

Okay Chittavrtti,
I feel a fool now when I asked what inspired Borges to write the poem "Blind". I just read that he lost his sight in 1955. That is what I get for reading the posts backwards, eh? You know now that I have read Beppo, I think I like that poem the best it is very inspiring! You know as I think of it I would be so very depressed if I lost my eyesight. I have such a great love for the written word. I know there are audio books now and Braille etc… But, the visual sense is such a wonderful gift and a blessing. I will write down the poem 'Blind" and put it on my bulletin board so I will remember not to take my abilities for granted and that they are true gifts.

12:45 PM  

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