Sleep is like a bridge
that stretches from today to tomorrow.
Underneath, like a dream,
water flows.
translated by Dennis Maloney
Juan Ramon Jimenez
With the Roses by Juan Ramon Jimenez
No, this pleasant afternoon
I cannot stay inside;
this free afternoon
I must go out in the air.
Into the laughing air
opening through the trees,
thousands of loves,
profound and waving.
The roses wait for me
bathing their flesh.
Nothing can keep me here;
I will not stay inside!
translated by Dennis Maloney
To Beloved Old Age by Juan Ramon Jimenez
If only your memory
of me were this blue May
sky, completely filled with
the pure stars of my acts!
If my acts were identical, like them: all pure,
clear, good, tranquil, just like the stars!
Below, I see your smile in dreams
–dreams of your memories of my life!–
translated by Dennis Maloney & Clark Zlotchew
Life by Juan Ramon Jimenez
What I used to regard as a glory shut in my face,
was a door, opening
toward this clarity:
. . . . . . .Country without a name:
Nothing can destroy it,this road
of doors, opening, one after another,
always toward reality:
. . . . . . .Life without calculation!
translated by James Wright
Full Moon by Juan Ramon Jimenez
The door is open,
the cricket is singing.
Are you going around naked
in the fields?
Like an immortal water,
going in and out of everything.
Are you going around naked
in the air?
The basil is not asleep,
the ant is busy.
Are you going around naked
in the house?
translated by Robert Bly
I Am Not I by Juan Ramon Jimenez
I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.
translated by Robert Bly
Oceans by Juan Ramon Jimenez
I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing.
And nothing
happens! Nothing. . . Silence. . . Waves. . .
–Nothing happens? Or has everything happened,
and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?
translated by Robert Bly
INTELLIGENCE, GIVE ME by Juan Ramon Jimenez
Intelligence, give me
the exact name of things!
. . . I want my word to be
the thing itself,
created by my soul a second time.
So that those who do not know them
can go to the things through me,
all those who have forgotten them
can go to the things through me,
all those who love them
can go to the things through me. . .
Intelligence, give me
the exact name, and your name
and theirs and mine, for things!
Leonard Durso 