Topic: Antonio Machado

[Nichi]

The Beehive

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

          Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

          Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

          Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.


~Antonio Machado
20th Century Spain 

[Nichi]

Proverbs and Songs
By Antonio Machado
(1875 - 1939)
English version by Robert Bly

 

Dedicated to Jose Ortega y Gasset

I
          The eye you see is not
an eye because you see it;
it is an eye because it sees you.

II
          To talk with someone,
ask a question first,
then -- listen.

III
          Narcissism
is an ugly fault,
and now it's a boring fault too.

IV
          But look in your mirror for the other one,
the other one who walks by your side.

V
          Between living and dreaming
there is a third thing.
Guess it.

VI
          This Narcissus of ours
can't see his face in the mirror
because he has become the mirror.

VII
          New century? Still
firing up the same forge?
Is the water still going along in its bed?

VIII
          Every instant is Still.

IX
          The sun in Aries. My window
is open to the cool air.
Oh the sound of the water far off!
The evening awakens the river.

X
          In the old farmhouse
-- a high tower with storks! --
the gregarious sound falls silent,
and in the field where no on is,
water makes a sound among the rocks.

XI
          Just as before, I'm interested
in water held in;
but now water in living
rock of my chest.

XII
          When you hear water, does its sound tell you
if it's from a mountain or farm,
city street, formal garden, or orchard?

XIII
          What I find surprises me:
leaves of the garden balm
smell of lemonwood.

XIV
          Don't trace out your profile,
forget your side view --
all that is outer stuff.

XV
          Look for your other half
who walks always next to you
and tends to be what you aren't.

XVI
          When spring comes,
go to the flowers --
why keep on sucking wax?

XVII
          In my solitude
I have seen things very clearly
that were not true.

XVIII
          Water is good, so is thirst;
shadow is good, so is sun;
the honey from the rosemarys
and the honey of the bare fields.

XIX
          Only one creed stands:
quod elixum est ne asato.
Don't roast what's already boiled.

XX
          Sing on, sing on, sing on,
the cricket in his cage
near his darling tomato.

XXI
          Form your letters slowly and well:
making things well
is more important than making them.

XXII
          All the same...
                              Ah yes! All the same,
moving the legs fast is important,
as the snail said to the greyhound.

XXIII
          There are really men of action now!
The marsh was dreaming
of its mosquitoes.

XXIV
          Wake up, you poets:
let echoes end,
and voices begin.

XXV
          But don't hunt for dissonance;
because, in the end, there is no dissonance.
When the sound is heard people dance.

XXVI
          What the poet is searching for
is not the fundamental I
but the deep you.

XXVII
          The eyes you're longing for --
listen now --
the eyes you see yourself in
are eyes because they see you.

XXVIII
          Beyond living and dreaming
there is something more important:
waking up.

XXIX
          Now someone has come up with this!
Cogito ergo non sum.
What an exaggeration!

XXX
          I thought my fire was out,
and stirred the ashes...
I burnt my fingers.

XXXI
          Pay attention now:
a heart that's all by itself
is not a heart.

XXXII
          I've caught a glimpse of him in dreams:
expert hunter of himself,
every minute in ambush.

XXXIII
          He caught his bad man:
the one who on sunny days
walks with head down.

XXXIV
          If a poem becomes common,
passed around, hand to hand, it's OK:
gold is chosen for coins.

XXXV
          If it's good to live,
then it's better to be asleep dreaming,
and best of all,
mother, is to awake.

XXXVI
          Sunlight is good for waking,
but I prefer bells --
the best thing about morning.

XXXVII
          Among the figs I am soft.
Among the rocks I am hard.
That's bad!

XXXVIII
          When I am alone
how close my friends are;
when I am with them
how distant they are!

XXXIX
          Now, poet, your prophecy?
"Tomorrow what is dumb will speak,
the human heart and the stone."

XL
          But art?
                              It is pure and intense play,
so it is like pure and intense life,
so it is like pure and intense fire.
You'll see the coal burning.



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