I had forgotten you,
sky, and you were nothing
more than a vague existence of light,
even without name,
by my weary, lazy eyes.
And you would appear, among the idle
discouraged words of the traveler,
like a series of tiny lagoons
seen in a watery landscape of dreams . . .
Today I gazed at you slowly,
and you are rising as high as your name.
translated by Dennis Maloney & Clark Zlotchew
Juan Ramon Jimenez
On the City Ramparts of Cadiz by Juan Ramon Jimenez
The sea is enormous,
just as everything is,
yet is seems to me I am still with you.
Soon only water will separate us,
water, restlessly shifting,
water, only water!
translated by James Wright
The Poem by Juan Ramon Jimenez
I pulled out the plant by the roots
still dripping with the dew
of early morning.
How it watered the earth
fragrant and moist.
What rain! What blindness of stars
in my face and eyes!
translated by Dennis Maloney
I Pulled On The Reins by Juan Ramon Jimenez
I pulled on the reins,
I turned the horse
of the dawn,
and I came in to life, pale.
Oh how they looked at me,
the flowers of my dreams,
insane,
lifting their arms to the moon!
translated by Robert Bly
Music by Juan Ramon Jimenez
Music–
a naked woman
running mad through the pure night!
translated by Robert Bly
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
Nothing More? by Juan Ramon Jimenez
Only my face and the sky.
The only universe.
My face, alone, and the sky.
(Between them, the pure breeze,
a fond caress, the only hand
that brings so much plentifulness;
the breeze, always rising and falling.)
Above me, all that is life,
the entire dream within me,
brushing against my senses with its wings,
that he has brought into harmony.
Nothing more.
. . . . . . .Are you perhaps
the breeze that comes and goes
from the sky, love, to my face?
translated by Dennis Maloney & Clark Zlotchew
Light and Water by Juan Ramon Jimenez
The light above–golden,orange, green
among the vague clouds.
Ah, trees without leaves,
roots in water,
branches in light!
Underneath, the water–green, orange, golden
among the vague mist.
Among the vague mist, among the vague clouds,
light and water; what magic they vanish!
translated by Dennis Maloney
Song by Juan Ramon Jimenez
Above the bird sings
and below the water sings.
Above and below
my soul is opening.
The bird shakes the star
and water rocks the flower.
Above and below
my soul is trembling.
translated by Dennis Maloney
Nocturne by Juan Ramon Jimenez
. . .The ship, slow and swift at once, conquers the water
but not the sky.
The blue remains behind, opening into living silver,
and once more is in front.
Fixed, the mast sways, always returning
–like the hour hand turning in even numbers
on the clock face–
to the stars themselves,
hour after hour, black and green.
One’s body, dreaming, returns
to the country it’s from, coming from the world
it does not belong to. One’s soul remains and
continues, always, through its eternal domain.
translated by Dennis Maloney & Clark Zlotchew
Leonard Durso 