I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!
Emily Dickinson
WORDS
Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can be as good as fingers.
They can be as trusty as the rock
you stick your bottom on.
But they can be both daisies and bruises.
Yet I am in love with words.
They are doves falling out of the ceiling.
They are six holy oranges sitting in my lap.
They are the trees, the legs of summer,
and the sun, its passionate face.
Yet often they fail me.
I have so much I want to say,
so many stories, images, proverbs, etc.
But the words aren’t good enough,
the wrong ones kiss me.
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
but with the wings of a wren.
But I try to take care
and be gentle to them.
Words and eggs must be handled with care.
Once broken they are impossible
things to repair.
Anne Sexton
ROTACIÓN
De nuevo un año como un cerco
crecido en el árbol
que inerme y
sin sospechar nada rota
con la Tierra
Tampoco las criaturas
se dan cuenta
de que rotan
ni de que los años las cercan
fuertes como el soplo vital
como el árbol
Rose Ausländer
Traducción del alemán de Teresa Ruiz Rosas y José Ruiz Rosas
KREISEN
Wieder ein Jahr als Ring
in den Baum gewachsen
der stillsteht und
ahnungslos kreist
mit der Erde
Auch die Geschöpfe
merken nicht daß sie kreisen
und Jahre sie einkreisen
atemstark
wie den Baum