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Un templo que no está en el templo / A temple not in the temple

By Homero Aridjis

Un templo que no está en el templo

Un templo que no está en el templo
un templo fuera de su forma
un templo más antiguo que las piedras
un templo que nos habla y no nos nombra
un templo inmóvil que sigue su camino
un templo más rápido que el pensamiento
me refiero al aire
al templo aire

 

A temple not in the temple

A temple not in the temple
A temple apart from its form
A temple older than the stones
A temple speaking to us but not naming us
A temple without motion that moves on its way
A temple swifter than thought
I refer to air
the temple of air

Added: Wednesday, July 16, 2014  /  From "Solar Poems" (City Lights Publishers, 2010). Used with permission.
Homero Aridjis
Photo by Lynda Koolis.

Homero Aridjis was born in Contepec, Michoacán, Mexico in 1940. Many of his 49 books of poetry and prose have been translated into fifteen languages (i.e. The Child Poet (Archipelago, 2016), News of the Earth (Mandel Vilar Press, 2017), A Time of Angels (City Lights Publishers, 2012)) and his writing recognized with important literary awards in Mexico, Italy, France, United States, and Serbia, including the Villaurrutia, Diana-Novedades, Grinzane Cavour, Premio Internazionale di Poesia Camaiore, Premio Elena Violani Landi, Roger Caillois, Smederevo Golden Key, Presea Generalísimo José María Morelos, and Erendira prizes. Formerly Mexican Ambassador to Switzerland, The Netherlands and UNESCO, during six years he was international president of PEN International. In March 1985, Aridjis founded the Group of 100, an association of prominent artists, intellectuals, and scientists devoted to environmental protection and defense of biodiversity.

Other poems by this author