José P. H. Hernández — Puerto Rico   (Translated by José Wan Díaz)

Ojos astrales


Si Dios un día cegara
toda fuente de luz,
el universo se alumbraría
con esos ojos que tienes tú.
Pero si —lleno de agrios enojos
por tal blasfemia— tus lindos ojos
Dios te arrancase, para que el mundo
con la alborada de tu pupila no se alumbrase;
aunque quisiera, Dios no podría
tender la noche sobre la nada....
Porque aún el mundo se alumbraría
con el recuerdo de tu mirada!

Astral eyes


If God one day obscured
every source of light,
the universe would be illuminated
by those beautiful eyes of yours.
But if —filled with bitter resentment
for such blasphemy— your pretty eyes
God gouged out of their sockets, so that the world
could not be lit with the dawn of your pupil;
even then, God would not be able
over the void to spread the night....
Because the world would still glow
with the memory of your eyes!

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