EPITAPHIUM POETAE IGNOTI
(Epitaph of an Unknown Poet)
Here lies one who longed to be a writer
and ended as a poor footnote.
He dreamed of posterity,
sought truth -not fame-,
and found only vague, cold ghosts.
A poet and a man of decency;
his only crime was writing.
With books, doubts, and poor health –
not in that order-,
at times he thought he might succeed,
but mostly, that nothing had been worth it.
In the end, he understood:
life brief, longa library, solitude.
After all, all has been nothing,
save pain, and love, and art.
He left this behind:
“If God exists, may He correct my verses”.
Christian Sanz Gómez
***
LES LÉOPARDS LECTEURS DE LA LUNE
J’ai voulu être tous les hommes lecteurs.
Je n’ai pas voulu laisser d’enfants,
mais des editio princeps.
Je fus lecteur -un monde solitaire,
scribe, peau de lune et spectre.
Parfois j’ai pensé que mon œuvre
était une manière de prier
pour une religion fuchsia perdue.
Ou mieux: ma façon de ne pas devenir fou.
Christian Sanz Gómez
***
GIORNI DEL 1992
(Kavafis)
Olimpiadi di Barcellona. Passeggiate notturne
tra il Parco Güell e Plaza Lesseps senza smettere
di baciarci. Labbra così presto perdute
che non ho più ritrovato, labbra
improvvisamente dimenticate nella notte umida della città.
Che erano quasi mie e non ho più ritrovato, fresche
come schiuma, calde e solitarie come rami
di luglio, come pendoli e frutti verdi,
quelle labbra che non sono più riuscito a baciare.
Christian Sanz Gómez
