Piedra de sol / Octavio Paz

"voy por tu cuerpo como por el mundo,

tu vientre es una plaza soleada,

tus pechos dos iglesias donde oficia

la sangre sus misterios paralelos,

mis miradas te cubren como yedra,

eres una ciudad que el mar asedia,

una muralla que la luz divide

en dos mitades de color durazno,

un paraje de sal, rocas y pájaros

bajo la ley del mediodía absorto,

vestida del color de mis deseos

como mi pensamiento vas desnuda,

voy por tus ojos como por el agua,

los tigres beben sueño de esos ojos,

el colibrí se quema en esas llamas,

voy por tu frente como por la luna,

como la nube por tu pensamiento,

voy por tu vientre como por tus sueños,

tu falda de maíz ondula y canta,

tu falda de cristal, tu falda de agua,

tus labios, tus cabellos, tus miradas,

toda la noche llueves, todo el día

abres mi pecho con tus dedos de agua,

cierras mis ojos con tu boca de agua,

sobre mis huesos llueves, en mi pecho

hunde raíces de agua un árbol líquido,

voy por tu talle como por un río,

voy por tu cuerpo como por un bosque,

como por un sendero en la montaña

que en un abismo brusco se termina

voy por tus pensamientos afilados

y a la salida de tu blanca frente

mi sombra despeñada se destroza,

recojo mis fragmentos uno a uno

y prosigo sin cuerpo, busco a tientas,"

Octavio Paz - (Piedra de sol)

"I travel your body, like the world,

your belly is a plaza full of sun,

your breasts two churches where blood

performs its own, parallel rites,

my glances cover you like ivy,

you are a city the sea assaults,

a stretch of ramparts split by the light

in two halves the color of peaches,

a domain of salt, rocks and birds,

under the rule of oblivious noon,

dressed in the color of my desires,

you go your way naked as my thoughts,

I travel your eyes, like the sea,

tigers drink their dreams in those eyes,

the hummingbird burns in those flames,

I travel your forehead, like the moon,

like the cloud that passes through your thoughts,

I travel your belly, like your dreams,

your skirt of corn ripples and sings,

your skirt of crystal, your skirt of water,

your lips, your hair, your glances rain

all through the night, and all day long

you open my chest with your fingers of water,

you close my eyes with your mouth of water,

you rain on my bones, a tree of liquid

sending roots of water into my chest,

I travel your length, like a river,

I travel your body, like a forest,

like a mountain path that ends at a cliff

I travel along the edge of your thoughts,

and my shadow falls from your white forehead,

my shadow shatters, and I gather the pieces

and go with no body, groping my way,"

Octavio Paz - (Sunstone)

Translated by Eliot Weinberger

(other english translation)

"I go among your body as among the world,

your belly the sunlit center of the city,

your breasts two churches where are celebrated

the great parallel mysteries of the blood,

the looks of my eyes cover you like ivy,

you are a city by the sea assaulted,

you are a rampart by the light divided

into two halves, distinct, color of peaches,

and you are saltiness, you are rocks and birds

beneath the edict of concentrated noon

and dressed in the coloring of my desires

you go as naked as my thoughts go naked,

I go among your eyes as I swim water,

the tigers come to these eyes to drink their dreams,

the hummingbird is burning among these flames,

I go upon your forehead as on the moon,

like cloud I go among your imagining

journey your belly as I journey your dream,

your loins are harvest, a field of waves and singing,

your loins are crystal and your loins are water,

your lips, your hair, the looks you give me, they

you open up my breast with your fingers of water,

you close my eyelids with your mouth of water,

raining upon my bones, and in my breast

the roots of water drive deep a liquid tree,

I travel through your waist as through a river,

I voyage your body as through a grove going,

as by a footpath going up a mountain

and suddenly coming upon a steep ravine

I go the straitened way of your keen thoughts

break through to daylight upon your white forehead

and there my spirit flings itself down, is shattered

now I collect my fragments one by one

and go on, bodiless, searching, in the dark...."

Octavio Paz - (Sunstone)

Photo by Lucien Clergue