Dame palabras fáciles y claras
para explicar la sencillez del alma
antes de ser rozada por las cosas,
cuando el alma no amaba equivocarse.
Pues al desierto voy, dame lo extraño,
que es ver por vez primera lo sencillo:
la tiniebla y la luz se separaron;
la noche vino y vino la mañana
(Translated by Don Bogen)
Give me words that are effortless and clear
to explain the soul’s simplicity
before things came to leave their marks on it,
before it fell in love with its own mistakes.
Since I’m entering the desert, give me strangeness
so I can see what’s simple with new eyes:
the darkness separated from the light,
there was the night and then there was the day.