The Dream Between Two Eyelids
Sunday, December 09, 2012
¿Cuánto pesa un ojo en la balanza?
¿Cuánto mide un sueño entre dos párpados?
¿Cuánto pesa en tus manos un ojo cerrado,
un ojo de muerto y un ojo pelado?
El ojo no se mide de comisura a comisura,
Ni se vende por peso ni tamaño,
el ojo vale por las distancias
que recorre afuera de sí mismo,
y por la luz que es capaz de devorar.
Hay ojos que no se cansan de volar.
Hay ojos artificiales que miran sin mirar.
Hay ojos parecederos como frutos de estación,
hay ojos que viajan a la velocidad de la luz.
Al fondo de tus ojos muertos,
un ojo vivo nos está mirando.
Weights and measures for the eye
How much has the eye to weigh in the balance?
What does the dream between two eyelids measure?
How much does a closed eye, the eye of death,
an eye peeled weigh in your hand?
The eye isn’t measured from corner to corner,
nor is it sold by size nor weight,
the eye is valued by the distances
it covers outside it
and the light it’s capable of taking in.
There are eyes that are never too tired to soar.
There are artificial eyes that see without seeing.
There are eyes as perishable as fruit in season,
there are eyes that travel with the speed of light.
At the back of your dead eyes
a living one peers out at us.
Homero Aridjis
Eyes to See Otherwise – Ojos de otro mirar
Selected Poems
Edited by Betty Ferber and
George McWhirter
