Los contadores de estrellas
Yo estoy cansado.
Miro esta ciudad
—una ciudad cualquiera--
donde ha veinte años vivo.
Todo está igual.
Un niño
inútilmente cuenta las estrellas
en el balcón vecino.
Yo me
pongo también...
Pero él va más deprisa:
no consigo alcanzarle:
Una, dos, tres, cuatro,
cinco...
No consigo alcanzarle.
Una, dos ...
tres...
cuatro...
cinco…
Dámaso Alonso
In this simple poem two people are each counting stars: a 20 something man, and his neighbor boy on a nearby balcony. The boy is counting rapidly, excitedly: one, two three, four, five...
He is listening silently and he hears the boy counting and he tries to
count them too, but can't keep up with the eager child. He counts them slower:
one, two three, four, five...
Why is it that he is counting the stars
slower than the child? The opening line says that he is tired, so he counts the
stars. It is to be inferred that his mind is full: full of other stars from
other years, full of the years that have elapsed and the memories that have
developed under those same stars, and perhaps full of even more marvel at the
splendor that is before him than the mind of the inexperienced child can yet
conceive. (After all, the more you understand about the stars, the more you find
them unbelievable. The more you discover, the less you find we really know.)
He is in no hurry. He gets lost in the splendor. All of this splendor
pushes everything else out of his mind, emptying him of all but the splendor of
God’s handiwork. None of this is stated, yet all of this is evident, even in the
stars. Sometimes the silence speaks so loud.
James 1:17-19 Can you imagine why God wants to give us His gifts? It is unimaginable. But, it is of His own free will. Some will argue about why God does not rid the world of all evil. But, here James takes for granted that God is all good and everything good comes from God. Go ahead and count the gifts of God, if you can. He gives without number.
Here I've translated the poem into a simple English version:
The Star Counters
I'm tired.
I look at this city
A city where (probably Madrid, Spain)
I've lived for 20 something years
Everything is the same.
a child
with no reason count the stars
on a neighboring balcony.
And me,
I'm also ...
But he goes faster
I can't keep up
One, two, three, four, five...
I'm much slower.
One, two ...
three ...
four ...
five ...
Yo estoy cansado.
Miro esta ciudad
—una ciudad cualquiera--
donde ha veinte años vivo.
Todo está igual.
Un niño
inútilmente cuenta las estrellas
en el balcón vecino.
Yo me
pongo también...
Pero él va más deprisa:
no consigo alcanzarle:
Una, dos, tres, cuatro,
cinco...
No consigo alcanzarle.
Una, dos ...
tres...
cuatro...
cinco…
Dámaso Alonso
In this simple poem two people are each counting stars: a 20 something man, and his neighbor boy on a nearby balcony. The boy is counting rapidly, excitedly: one, two three, four, five...
He is listening silently and he hears the boy counting and he tries to
count them too, but can't keep up with the eager child. He counts them slower:
one, two three, four, five...
Why is it that he is counting the stars
slower than the child? The opening line says that he is tired, so he counts the
stars. It is to be inferred that his mind is full: full of other stars from
other years, full of the years that have elapsed and the memories that have
developed under those same stars, and perhaps full of even more marvel at the
splendor that is before him than the mind of the inexperienced child can yet
conceive. (After all, the more you understand about the stars, the more you find
them unbelievable. The more you discover, the less you find we really know.)
He is in no hurry. He gets lost in the splendor. All of this splendor
pushes everything else out of his mind, emptying him of all but the splendor of
God’s handiwork. None of this is stated, yet all of this is evident, even in the
stars. Sometimes the silence speaks so loud.
James 1:17-19 Can you imagine why God wants to give us His gifts? It is unimaginable. But, it is of His own free will. Some will argue about why God does not rid the world of all evil. But, here James takes for granted that God is all good and everything good comes from God. Go ahead and count the gifts of God, if you can. He gives without number.
Here I've translated the poem into a simple English version:
The Star Counters
I'm tired.
I look at this city
A city where (probably Madrid, Spain)
I've lived for 20 something years
Everything is the same.
a child
with no reason count the stars
on a neighboring balcony.
And me,
I'm also ...
But he goes faster
I can't keep up
One, two, three, four, five...
I'm much slower.
One, two ...
three ...
four ...
five ...
