Inca Street, and: I Am So Sad, and: So What, and: Joy, and: The Eye

Abstract

Inca Street, and: I Am So Sad, and: So What, and: Joy, and: The Eye Idea Vilariño (bio) Translated by Jesse Lee Kercheval Inca Street Inca streetlights Rubenclimbing the hillbirds of paradise on the groundthe schoolnineteen hundred somethingthe corner the stars.Inca the garden Rubenwarm silent stairsbranches intertwinedan ant climbing.Warm cold the moonthe stars without number.Scent of earth Rubenjasmine and honeysucklethe pink laurelsthe ferns the fenceCold Ruben the darkscent of those flowersof those years festivals.An ant climbing—Inca streetlights, Ruben—his blue shirt. translated from the Spanish by Jesse Lee Kercheval [End Page 26] I Am So Sad I am as sad asif you had diedI can’t smilethenor speak with youabout what I knowor give details.I can only sufferfor the lost daysfor the already impossiblefor the failure. translated from the Spanish by Jesse Lee Kercheval [End Page 27] So What I take your loveand whatI give you my loveand whatwe have late nightsintoxicationsummersall the pleasureall the joyall the tenderness.So whatAlways it will be lackingthe deep liethe always. translated from the Spanish by Jesse Lee Kercheval [End Page 28] Joy The joyis joyheaped fullendlesshappening without hurrywith fervorwithout memorywithout anything morewithout obstaclesindispensableengrossed.It is joyand it is onejoy for twoand it is seriousand is infinite and iswithout limitswholeeternalwhile it lasts. translated from the Spanish by Jesse Lee Kercheval [End Page 29] The Eye What happens nowwhat is this wonder thiscollapse of wonders moving in the night.What is this we askand what is this and where does it go?The world yields returnsrecedesis erased collapses sinksfar awayit ceases to be.What will become of uswhat is this we ask frightenedwhat is it.And neverthelessabove the deaf delirium above the fireof everything that burns and that is burningin the most implacable of nightsin the most blind of nights it isgliding above the calm and the blindnessa cold eye and ruthless and neutralthat does not enter in the gamethat that does not deceive everthat is laughing. [End Page 30] Idea Vilariño Idea Vilariño was an Uruguayan poet, essayist and literary critic and a well-known member of the literary group, the Generation of ’45. She was the author of twelve books of poetry, among the best known are Nocturnos and Poemas de amor. Her collected poems Poesía completa was published in Uruguay in 2009. Copyright © 2017 Pleiades and Pleiades Press