Love Poems (New Directions Paperbook) Read online

  skin, mouth, fruit of these swift days,

  tell me, were they always beside you

  through years and journeys and moons and suns

  and earth and weeping and rain and joy

  or is it only now that

  they come from your roots,

  only as water brings to the dry earth

  burgeonings that it did not know,

  or as to the lips of the forgotten jug

  the taste of the earth rises in the water?

  I don’t know, don’t tell me, you don’t know.

  Nobody knows these things.

  But bringing all my senses close

  to the light of your skin, you disappear,

  you melt like the acid

  aroma of a fruit

  and the heat of a road,

  and the smell of corn being stripped,

  the honeysuckle of the pure afternoon,

  the names of the dusty earth,

  the infinite perfume of our country:

  magnolia and thicket, blood and flour,

  the gallop of horses,

  the village’s dusty moon,

  newborn bread:

  ah from your skin everything comes back to my mouth,

  comes back to my heart, comes back to my body,

  and with you I become again

  the earth that you are:

  you are deep spring in me:

  in you I know again how I am born.

  II

  Years of yours that I should have felt

  growing near me like clusters

  until you had seen how the sun and the earth

  had destined you for my hands of stone,

  until grape by grape you had made

  the wine sing in my veins.

  The wind or the horse

  swerving were able

  to make me pass through your childhood,

  you have seen the same sky each day,

  the same dark winter mud,

  the endless branching of the plum trees

  and their dark-purple sweetness.

  Only a few miles of night,

  the drenched distances

  of the country dawn,

  a handful of earth separated us, the transparent

  walls

  that we did not cross, so that life,

  afterward, could put all

  the seas and the earth

  between us, and we could come together

  in spite of space,

  step by step seeking each other,

  from one ocean to another,

  until I saw that the sky was aflame

  and your hair was flying in the light

  and you came to my kisses with the fire

  of an unchained meteor

  and as you melted in my blood, the sweetness

  of the wild plum

  of our childhood I received in my mouth,

  and I clutched you to my breast

  as if I were regaining earth and life.

  III

  My wild girl, we have had

  to regain time

  and march backward, in the distance

  of our lives, kiss after kiss,

  gathering from one place what we gave

  without joy, discovering in another

  the secret road

  that gradually brought your feet close to mine,

  and so beneath my mouth

  you see again the unfulfilled plant

  of your life putting out its roots

  toward my heart that was waiting for you.

  And one by one the nights

  between our separated cities

  are joined to the night that unites us.

  The light of each day,

  its flame or its repose,

  they deliver to us, taking them from time,

  and so our treasure

  is disinterred in shadow or light,

  and so our kisses kiss life:

  all love is enclosed in our love:

  all thirst ends in our embrace.

  Here we are at last face to face,

  we have met,

  we have lost nothing.

  We have felt each other lip to lip,

  we have changed a thousand times

  between us death and life,

  all that we were bringing

  like dead medals

  we threw to the bottom of the sea,

  all that we learned

  was of no use to us:

  we begin again,

  we end again

  death and life.

  And here we survive,

  pure, with the purity that we created,

  broader than the earth that could not lead us

  astray

  eternal as the fire that will burn

  as long as life endures

  EPITALAMIO

  Recuerdas cuando

  en invierno

  llegamos a la isla?

  El mar hacia nosotros levantaba

  una copa de frío.

  En las paredes las enredaderas

  susurraban dejando

  caer hojas oscuras

  a nuestro paso.

  Tú eras también una pequeña hoja

  que temblaba en mi pecho.

  El viento de la vida allí te puso.

  En un principio no te vi: no supe

  que ibas andando conmigo,

  hasta que tus raíces

  horadaron mi pecho,

  se unieron a los hilos de mi sangre,

  hablaron por mi boca,

  florecieron conmigo.

  Así fue tu presencia inadvertida,

  hoja o rama invisible,

  y se pobló de pronto

  mi corazón de frutos y sonidos.

  Habitaste la casa

  que te esperaba oscura

  y encendiste las lámparas entonces.

  Recuerdas, amor mío,

  nuestros primeros pasos en la isla?

  Las piedras grises nos reconocieron,

  las rachas de la lluvia,

  los gritos del viento en la sombra.

  Pero file el fuego

  nuestro único amigo,

  junto a él apretamos

  el dulce amor de invierno

  a cuatro brazos.

  El fuego vio crecer nuestro beso desnudo

  hasta tocar estrellas escondidas,

  y vio nacer y morir el dolor

  como una espada rota

  contra el amor invencible.

  Recuerdas,

  oh dormida en mi sombra,

  cómo en ti crecía

  el sueño,

  de tu pecho desnudo

  abierto con sus cúpulas gemelas

  hacia el mar, hacia el viento de la isla,

  y cómo yo en tu sueño navegaba

  libre, en el mar y en el viento

  atado y sumergido sin embargo

  al volumen azul de tu dulzura?

  Oh dulce, dulce mía,

  cambió la primavera

  los muros de la isla.

  Apareció una flor como una gota

  de sangre anaranjada,

  y luego descargaron los colores

  todo su peso puro.

  El mar reconquistó su transparencia,

  la noche en el cielo

  destacó sus racimos

  y ya todas las cosas susurraron

  nuestro nombre de amor, piedra por piedra

  dijeron nuestro nombre y nuestro beso.

  La isla de piedra y musgo

  resonó en el secreto de sus grutas

  como en tu boca el canto,

  y la flor que nacía

  entre los intersticios de la piedra

  con su secreta sílaba

  dijo al pasar tu nombre

  de planta abrasadora

  y la escarpada roca levantada

  como el muro del mundo

  reconoció mi canto, bienamada,

  y todas las cosas dijeron

  tu amor
, mi amor, amada,

  porque la tierra, el tiempo, el mar, la isla,

  la vida, la marea,

  el germen que entreabre

  sus labios en la tierra,

  la flor devoradora,

  el movimiento de la primavera,

  todo nos reconoce,

  Nuestro amor ha nacido

  fuera de las paredes,

  en el viento,

  en la noche,

  en la tierra,

  y por eso la arcilla y la corola,

  el barro y las raíces

  saben cómo te llamas,

  y saben que mi boca

  se juntó con la tuya

  porque en la tierra nos sembraron juntos

  sin que sólo nosotros lo supiéramos

  y que crecemos juntos

  y florecemos juntos

  y por eso

  cuando pasamos,

  tu nombre está en los pétalos

  de la rosa que crece en la piedra,

  mi nombre está en las grutas.

  Ellos todo lo saben,

  no tenemos secretos,

  hemos crecido juntos

  pero no lo sabíamos.

  El mar conoce nuestro amor, las piedras

  de la altura rocosa

  saben que nuestros besos florecieron

  con pureza infinita,

  como en sus intersticios una boca

  escarlata amanece:

  así como nuestro amor y el beso

  que reúne tu boca y la mía

  en una flor eterna.

  Amor mío,

  la primavera dulce,

  flor y mar, nos rodean.

  No la cambiamos

  por nuestro invierno,

  cuando el viento

  comenzó a descifrar tu nombre

  que hoy en todas las horas repite,

  cuando

  las hojas no sabían

  que tú eras una hoja,

  cuando

  las raíces

  no sabían que tú me buscabas

  en mi pecho.

  Amor, amor,

  la primavera

  nos ofrece el cielo,

  pero la tierra oscura

  es nuestro nombre,

  nuestro amor pertenece

  a todo el tiempo y la tierra.

  Amándonos, mi brazo

  bajo tu cuello de arena,

  esperaremos

  como cambian la tierra y el tiempo

  en la isla,

  como caen las hojas

  de las enredaderas taciturnas,

  como se va el otoño

  por la ventana rota.

  Pero nosotros

  vamos a esperar

  a nuestro amigo,

  a nuestro amigo de ojos rojos,

  el fuego,

  cuando de nuevo el viento

  sacuda las fronteras de la isla

  y desconozca el nombre

  de todos,

  el invierno

  nos buscará, amor mío,

  siempre

  nos buscará, porque lo conocemos,

  porque no lo tememos,

  porque tenemos

  con nosotros

  el fuego

  para siempre,

  tenemos

  la tierra con nosotros

  para siempre,

  la primavera con nosotros

  para siempre,

  y cuando se desprenda

  de las enredaderas

  una hoja,

  tú sabes, amor mío,

  qué nombre viene escrito

  en esa hoja,

  un nombre que es el tuyo y es el mío,

  nuestro nombre de amor, un solo

  ser, la flecha

  que atravesó el invierno,

  el amor invencible,

  el fuego de los días,

  una hoja

  que me cayó en el pecho,

  una hoja del árbol

  de la vida

  que hizo nido y cantó,

  que echo raíces,

  que dio flores y frutos.

  Y así ves, amor mío,

  cómo marcho

  por la isla,

  por el mundo,

  seguro en medio de la primavera,

  loco de luz en el frío,

  andando tranquilo en el fuego,

  levantando tu peso

  de pétalo en mis brazos

  como si nunca hubiera caminado

  sino contigo, alma mía,

  como si no supiera caminar

  sino contigo,

  como si no supiera cantar

  sino cuando tú cantas.

  EPITHALAMIUM

  Do you remember when

  in winter

  we reached the island?

  The sea raised toward us

  a crown of cold.

  On the walls the climbing vines

  murmured letting

  dark leaves fall

  as we passed.

  You too were a little leaf

  that trembled on my chest.

  Life’s wind put you there.

  At first I did not see you: I did not know

  that you were walking with me,

  until your roots

  pierced my chest,

  joined the threads of my blood,

  spoke through my mouth,

  flourished with me.

  Thus was your inadvertent presence,

  invisible leaf or branch,

  and suddenly my heart

  was filled with fruits and sounds.

  You occupied the house

  that darkly awaited you

  and then you lit the lamps.

  Do you remember, my love,

  our first steps on the island?

  The gray stones knew us,

  the rain squalls,

  the shouts of the wind in the shadow.

  But the fire was

  our only friend,

  next to it we hugged

  the sweet winter love

  with four arms.

  The fire saw our naked kiss grow

  until it touched hidden stars,

  and it saw grief be born and die

  like a broken sword

  against invincible love.

  Do you remember,

  oh sleeper in my shadow,

  how sleep would grow

  in you,

  from your bare breast

  open with its twin domes

  toward the sea, toward the wind of the island,

  and how I in your dream sailed

  free, in the sea and in the wind

  yet tied and sunken

  in the blue volume of your sweetness?

  Oh sweet, my sweet,

  spring changed

  the island’s walls.

  A flower appeared like a drop

  of orange blood,

  and then the colors discharged

  all their pure weight.

  The sea reconquered its transparency,

  night in the sky

  outlined its clusters

  and now all things murmured

  our name of love, stone by stone

  they said our name and our kiss.

  The island of stone and moss

  echoed in the secret of its grottoes

  like the song in your mouth,

  and the flower that was born

  between the crevices of the stone

  with its secret syllable

  spoke, as it passed, your name

  of blazing plant

  and the steep rock, raised

  like the wall of the world,

  knew my song, well beloved,

  and all things spoke of

  your love, my love, beloved,

  because earth, time, sea, island,

  life, tide,

  the seed that half opens

  its lips in the earth,

  the devouring flower,

  the movement of spring,

  everything recognizes us
.

  Our love was born

  outside the walls,

  in the wind,

  in the night,

  in the earth,

  and that’s why the clay and the flower,

  the mud and the roots

  know your name,

  and know that my mouth

  joined yours

  because we were sown together in the earth

  and we alone did not know it

  and that we grow together

  and flower together

  and therefore

  when we pass,

  your name is on the petals

  of the rose that grows on the stone,

  my name is in the grottoes.

  They know it all,

  we have no secrets,

  we have grown together

  but we did not know it.

  The sea knows our love, the stones

  of the rocky height

  know that our kisses flowered

  with infinite purity,

  as in their crevices a scarlet

  mouth dawns:

  just as our love and the kiss

  that joins your mouth and mine

  in an eternal flower.

  My love,

  sweet spring,

  flower and sea, surround us.

  We did not change it

  for our winter,

  when the wind

  began to decipher your name

  that today at all hours it repeats,

  when

  the leaves did not know that you were a leaf, when the roots

  did not know that you were seeking

  in my breast.

  Love, love,

  spring

  offers us the sky,

  but the dark earth

  is our name,

  our love belongs

  to all time and the earth.

  Loving each other, my arm

  beneath your neck of sand,

  we shall wait

  as earth and time change

  on the island,

  as the leaves fall

  from the silent climbing vines,

  as autumn departs

  through the broken window.

  But we

  are going to wait for

  our friend,

  our red-eyed friend,

  the fire,

  when the wind again

  shakes the frontiers of the island

  and does not know the names

  of everyone,

  winter

  will seek us, my love,

  always

  it will seek us, because we know it,

  because we do not fear it, because we have

  with us

  fire

  forever,

  we have

  earth with us

  forever,

  spring with us

  forever,

  and when a leaf

  falls

  from the climbing vines,

  you know, my love,

  what name is written

  on that leaf,

  a name that is yours and mine,

  our love name, a single

  being, the arrow

  that pierced winter,