All the entombed voices in the enormous graveyard of the air that girds the earth
will come back of a sudden to tell us man is merely this—
a diminishing sound, a ripple of laugher, a lament,
hastening unto death at the speed of his growth.
Skeleton of a shadow,
structure of a flight,
trace of a stone in the water,
desire, nothing but desire, dreams, just dreams.
With my eyes closed I see what it is I want
and what I want does not exist.
Jaime Sabines
Translated by Colin Carberry