Moments by Luis Jorge Borges
Considered the best Argentinean writer, I picked up a Borges book Ficciones after reading about him in In Patagaonia and The Old Patagonia Express. I had never heard of him, but I am learning how much about this world I have never heard about. A few minutes ago, my new friend, Nogah from Israel, showed me the following poem. It needs no further intro other than to say that I coincidentally (or not) ate ice cream twice this afternoon and I will stop worrying that I jumped off the cliff of life without a parachute (thank you, Nogah)…
- Jorge Luis Borges
- Moments
- Translated by Alastair Reid
- If I were able to live my life again,
- next time I would try to make more mistakes.
- I would not try to be so perfect. I would be more relaxed.
- I would be much more foolish than I have been. In fact,
- I would take very few things seriously.
- I would be much less sanitary.
- I would run more risks. I would take more trips,
- I would contemplate more sunsets,
- I would climb more mountains,
- I would swim more rivers.
- I would go to more places I have never visited.
- I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans.
- I would have more real problems, fewer imaginary ones.
- I was one of these people who lived prudently
- and prolifically every moment of his life.
- Certainly I had moments of great happiness:
- Don’t let the present slip away.
- I was one of those who never went anywhere
- without a thermometer, a hot water bottle,
- an umbrella, and a parachute.
- If I could live over again,
- I would go barefoot, beginning
- in early spring
- and would continue so until the end of autumn.
- I would take more turns on the merry-go-round.
- I would watch more dawns
- And play with more children,
- if I once again had a life ahead of me.
- But, you see, I am eighty-five
- and I know that I am dying.
Tags: argentina, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
Thank you Rick and Nogah
I needed that
Your buddy