Saturday, June 18, 2011

has my heart gone to sleep (a poem by antonio machado)

has my heart gone to sleep?

have the beehives of my dreams

stopped working, the waterwheel

of the mind run dry,

scoops turning empty,

only shadow inside?

no, my heart is not asleep.

it is awake, wide awake.

not asleep, not dreaming-

its eyes are opened wide

watching distant signals, listening

on the rim of vast silence.


-antonio machado (1875-1939)

6 comments:

Laura said...

Gorgeous mandala...and the poem exquisite. Thanks for sharing:-)

Kel said...

empty scoops
shadow inside

what powerful imagery

Stacy Wills said...

thank you, laura! my first exposure to machado was his marvelous poem, "last night as i was sleeping."

kel, that caught my attention, too!

María del Mar Hermoso said...

Such a beautiful mandala for one of our most important poets in Spain, Antonio Machado! If you are interested in Antonio Machado and the metaphors of life, roads and the sea, try to find a good translation for the next poem; you would be pleased with it:
"Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino
y, al volver la vista atrás,
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino,
sino estelas en la mar."
Thanks for spreading our Spanish culture!

Stacy Wills said...

thank you maria! i do love his poetry. is this the one that says "...the path is made by walking?"

María del Mar Hermoso said...

Yes, that's right. ;););)