ESTRELLAS FIJAS
Cuando ya de la vida
el alma tenga, con el cuerpo, rota,
y duerma en el sepulcro
esa noche, más larga que las otras,
mis ojos, que en recuerdo
del infinito eterno de las cosas,
guardaron sólo, como de un ensueño,
la tibia luz de tus miradas hondas,
al ir descomponiéndose
entre la oscura fosa,
verán, en lo ignorado de la muerte,
tus ojos, … destacándose en las sombras.
 
FIXED STARS
Translated to English by Gary Keenan.
When finally from life
This soul has, with this body, broken,
And it sleeps in the tomb,
That night, longer than the others,
My eyes, remembering
The infinite eternity of things,
Will focus only, as if in a dream,
On the warm light of your deep looks,
To go on decomposing
Within the dark void,
Until they see, in defiance of death,
Your eyes…glowing in the shadows.
Translator’s bio: Gary Keenan lives and works in New York City. His poems have been published in the US, England, Ireland and Australia since 1979. His book Rotary Devotion, winner of the 2016 Poets Out Loud award, is now available from Fordham University Press.
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José Asunción Silva

José Asunción Silva (1865-1896) is a founding voice of modernism in Latin American poetry and one of Colombia's greatest poets.