from A dream of trains by Pablo Neruda

I was alone in the solitary train,
but not only was I alone–
a host of solitudes were gathered
around the hope of the journey,
like peasants on the platforms.
And I, in the train, like stale smoke,
with so many shiftless souls,
burdened by so many deaths,
felt myself lost on a journey
in which nothing was moving
but my exhausted heart.

translated by Alastair Reid

on what’s at the end of rainbows

rainbow

I’m not looking for that pot of gold or the Land of Oz or even that promise of home and the fulfillment of whatever dreams are still floating inside my head and heart, wistfully evoked by Judy Garland and so many other singers over the years in song, no, not looking anymore. Or at least that’s what I thought not so long ago. But the sight of one in the sky on a morning after a long rain, well it does do something to everyone, causing smiles, sighs, that glaze over the eyes when one is transported somewhere other than where one is. And I spent a minute or two staring pensively out the window at that sky, that rainbow stretching across it in a corner of my universe, and I couldn’t help but think I’m not through journeying just yet. The years have crept up on me and slowed my ability to leave the comfort of the bed in the morning but not the aching in my heart that longs for rainbows, a few true companions, and possibly a flask or two of lubrication to help propel me down that road, whether made of yellow bricks, asphalt, clay, trodden grass, or dirt, to look for something not found where I am. Something that never seems to be found wherever it is I am. Rainbows, roads, journeys.  And a voice whispering in my ear saying not done yet, old timer. Not now or ever, or at least not till you finally get to the end of some rainbow in the sky and can lay your head, close your eyes, and rest on whatever waits for you there.

A remembrance is moving by Juan Ramon Jimenez

A remembrance is moving
down the long memory, disturbing
the dry leaves with its delicate feet.

—Behind, the house is empty.
On ahead, highways
going on to other places, solitary highways,
stretched out.
And the rain is like weeping eyes,
as if the eternal moment were going blind—.

Even though the house is quiet and shut,
even though I am not in it, I am in it.
And. . .good-bye, you who are walking
without turning your head!

translated by Robert Bly