The Three Goals

The Three Goals by David Budbill

The first goal is to see the thing itself
in and for itself, to see it simply and clearly
for what it is.
No symbolism, please.

The second goal is to see each individual thing
as unified, with all the other
ten thousand things.
In this regard, a little wins helps a lot.

The third goal is to grasp the first and second goals,
to see the universal and the particular,
simultaneously.
Regarding this one, call me when you get it.

"Remordimiento" or "Remorse" by Juan Ramon Jimenez

Le tapari el tiempo
con rosas, porque no
recordara.

Una rosa distinta,
da una imprevista majia,
sobre cada hora solitaria de oro
o sombra,
hueco propicio a las memorias trajicas.

Que, como entre divinas
y alegres
enredaderas rosas, granas, blancas,
que no dejaran sitio a lo pasado,
se le enredara,
con el cuerpo,
el alma.


Time must have covered it over
with roses so
it would not be remembered.

One particular rose,
that has an unexpected magic,
on top of each lonely hour of gold
or shadows,
a place just right to hold painful memories.

So that among the divine
and joyful
climbing roses, scarlet, white,
which would leave no room for the past,
the soul would be
wound into
the body.