The Eyes of a Child
The eyes of a child
they call me... but to where?
Twinkling, they play with me
Recognition
Our hearts are one
mine and yours
Why do the others not know it?
Smiling, you say, “Let’s be friends”
The people are too busy
they whisk us along... no chance to play?
They are busy building prisons
So long, my friend
El Fuerte, Sinaloa
Memoir of the grandeur of a day gone by
Dreams once reached, now fading
yet still alive
A kind and generous people aware of their heritage
And creating a new Mexico
with greater equality and brotherhood
Outside the city, coming from the mountains
the river runs... nay, saunters
Like time immemorial
like eternity
the plains and hills, covered with green,
extend on either side
...forever
The city is a flickering of a candle ... an illusion
though a pleasant one perhaps
Outside, nature remains inconspicuous
As if it were a frog crouched on the bricks
that pave the city’s streets
blended in
Who would notice?
To my Beloved Companion
I am a teacher, a philosopher and a philanthropist
I am a student, a child and an orphan
Presently you will begin your education...
The world is your university
And the faces of the people are your books
I am the clerk at the information desk
I am the library attendant
How much you have to learn!
And how great and how wide are the doors of this college!
I found a rose underneath a flowering tree by the lake
I picked it up and kept it for you...
I will take it to Doña Socorro, the wise woman of the city
She sends you her greeting and her welcome
Did you ask me how this city was built?
It is built on the sweat of slaves...
The blood of the poor is its mortar
And the slave drivers are the slaves
And the rich are the most miserable
And the murderers are the victims of their own murder
Come with me...
and we will build a new city inside this city
We will build it upon love and kindness and generosity
We will use the rays of the sun for stones
And for mortar, the fragrance of flowers
There is no sense in trying to leave the city
Because its highways cover the whole face of the earth
But we can build inside the city...
We will build schools for our children out of the wind
And the waves of the ocean will be their writing tablets
Yesterday, I met a snail on the sidewalk
I bent down and extended my hand
He greeted me with a curious smile
We conversed for a season
and then he went his way
Tomorrow, I will go out to look for the poor
He will give me to eat from his bowl
and I will teach him the things I have learned from my wanderings
You are my companion, my counselor, and my mirror
I am your friend, your lover
and the deepest desire of your heart.
Our Marriage
Our marriage is not the bonds of human tradition
or the pretense of legal security
but rather, it is the inquiry which we make
over and over into the depths of each other’s soul...
and the harmony we find there
It is love drawing us along in its train...
It is the melding of our lives together...
Our vow is the oneness of our hearts
...an unspoken vow
...an intimate trust
When I call her ‘wife’
I do not mean that I love her exclusively
but that with her I find a place
for the expression of the love I feel
for the entire universe
When she calls me ‘husband’
she does not mean
that she owes me a fidelity
which I might then demand from her
jealously
but that in me she finds a home
for her love...
a home with an open door
where she may come in
and go forth
as she pleases
Our wedding is the intimacy which we search for
which we grope after
feeling our bodies touch
and listening to each other’s heart beat
until, like the dawn
breaking over the horizon,
we are caught up in the rapture
of intense burning love
holding tightly
to the unclothed essence
of the one made real before us
Run my Beloved
Run my beloved
Run like a lamb
Let your joy, let your desire be your guide
When I watch you
my heart will be light as you jump and play
When you lie down
I will look upon you tenderly
El Temascalme
Vientre de mi madre Tierra
Al entrar me haces acordarme
de quien es mi verdadera madre
¿Como es que lo había olvidado?
Tu frescura alivia mi mente
Tu calor me acoge
Con cuerpos desnudos
en ti yacemos
así como cuando nos primero diste a luz...
ya no existe la separación
Me limpias de temores
en tu oscuridad calmante
Mi cuerpo purificas
y me haces nacer de nuevo
