Spanish Poems

RHYME V. A SUBTLE ESSENCE INDEFINABLE...

A subtle essence indefinable
Am I, a being without form or frame;
Within no certain bounds assignable
A vital spirit, yet without a name.

I swim within a void immensurate,
I tremble in the radii of the sun,
Among the shades I love to palpitate,
The clouds and I together float as one.

I am the slender ray of golden light
Emitted by the distant evening star;
I am the radiance, serene and bright
Which gentle moonbeams send us from afar.

I am the gorgeous, ruby-tinted cloud
which sinks at eventide, into the sea;
I am the errant comets sweeping, proud,
And lumionous appendage equally.

I am the snow upon the mountain peak,
I am the glow upon the desert sand;
I am the blue wawes of the sea and eke,
I am the foam upon the water's strand.

Within each hymn of praise I am a note,
The violet's fragrance I personify;
The fleeting marsh-light in a tomb or moat,
The trailing ivy on the ruins high.

I thunder in the torrent's headlong course,
I hiss in the electric spark of fire;
I blind you in the lightning's awful force,
I groan among the torture, stern and dire.

I laugh in Nature's multi-peopled choir,
I whisper in the waving blades of grass;
Within the curling billows I suspire,
And weep in shrivelled autumn-leaves, that pass.

I vibrate in the atoms which comprise
The wreath of smoke, which from the earth ascends,
We see it gently toward the sky arise
In spiral form, contorted and immense.

I mingle in the flimsy golden threads
Which insect artisans so well construct,
When the siesta claims our wearied heads
Among the trees, which to repose conduct.

The flying nymphs I eagerly pursue
While they, disrobed, are sporting in the cool,
Refreshing current, hidden from all view,
Within the shelter of the crystal pool.

I follow up, upon the ocean's bed
Light footed naiads, merry, winsome girls,
Where coral woods are richly carpeted
With an array of dazzling, snow-white pearls.

I mingle with the subterranean gnomes
In hollow caverns, far from solar ray,
Behold the wondrous riches of their homes,
Where gems create an artificial day.

I seek the trace of footprints, now erased
From former ages, which have ceased to be;
I know of empires, which have been displaced,
Of whom no name remains, nor history.

Before me are in dizzy whirls unrolled,
Revolving worlds in silent majesty;
Such is my vision, that I may behold
The whole creation with observant eye.

I know of regions, nebulous, remote,
Where even sound has failed to penetrate;
Where stars in emryotic chaos float
And eagerly the breath of life await.

I am the wondrous bridge which dares to cross
The bottomless abyss by Titans riven;
I am the unknown ladder o'er the foss
Which re-unites the realms of earth and heaven.

I am the ring of potency enorm,
Unseen, yet subjugating, as it ought,
The grosser world of mere external form
Unto the elevated world of thought.

I am, at last that latent quality,
That unknown essence, spiritual haze,
That perfume, delicate in mystery,
Of which the poet is the fitting vase.

Translated by Jules Renard

RHYME V. SPIRIT INNOMINATE...

Spirit innominate,
Essence undefined,
I live the unshapen
Life of the mind.

In vast space I swim
In the sun's heat I quiver,
I float with the clouds,
Among shadows I shiver.

I am the golden fringe
Girding the distant star;
I am the high moon's light,
Tranquil and pale.

I am the glowing cloud
Floating in western sky;
I am the meteor's
Luminous trail.

Snow on the mountain peaks,
Fire in the desert sands,
Blue wave at sea am I,
Froth on the strands.

Ivy mid ruins am I,
In the tombs fleeting flame,
Fragrance in violet;
In the lute, tone.

I roar in the torrent,
In windstorm I trumpet,
Strike blind in the lightning-flash;
In torments, groan.

I laugh in the upland hills,
Whisper amid tall grass,
Murmur in limpid streams;
In the dry leaf, weep.

I float with the atoms
Of vapor uprising,
That mount slowly skyward
In vast spiral sweep.

In the thin golden webs
Spun by the insects,
Under the trees I swing
At restless ease.

I, amid coral growths
White-pearl-becarpeted,
Under the waves pursue
Light naiads;

Follow the naked nymphs
In the fresh, crystalline
Current of running brook
Sporting their leisure.

I, in the hollow caves
Whither no sunbeam comes,
Mingling among the gnomes
Gaze on their treasure.

I seek of ages gone
Traces obliterate;
Empires whose very names
Lost are, I know.

All of creation
My vision embraces;
I follow stars, spinning
In mad vertigo.

I know those regions
Where never a sound doth come,
Where worlds in embryo
Await life's leaven.

I am the crossing-bridge
Over the deep abyss;
I am the unknown stair
'Twixt earth and heaven.

I am the invisible
Ring that doth bind
To the ethereal world
The world we discern.

I am that spirit,
Ineffable essence,
Unknown attar, with
The poet for urn.

Translated by Young Allison