POETRY IS LIKE TAKING A DEEP BREATH

Wednesday 31 July 2013

From MORAL PROVERBS AND FOLKSONGS







The best of the good people
know that in this life
it’s all a question of proportion;
a little more, a little less . . .

Don’t be surprised, dear friends,
that my forehead is furrowed.
With men I live at peace, but with my insides
I am at war.

The cricket in his cage
by his tomato,
sings, sings, sings.

Pay attention:
a solitary heart
is no heart at all.

In my solitude 
I have seen very clearly
things that are not true.




Antonio Machado
1875-1939

‘Moral Proverbs and Folksongs'
translated from the Spanish by Mary G. Berg and Dennis Maloney


Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of ’98.