This is a poem by Jorge Luis Borges, named "Los Justos" (the just ones, or the righteous), about everyday acts of kindness and care that keep the world steady. I have been thinking a lot about how dreadful some days may be with no bright or magnificent things to look upon. We are taught through popular culture, literature and our own families and friends that life has to have those grandiose moments everyday, but it is actually the sum of the small moments that have the capacity to make our lives meaningful and worth living. So, in an effort to keep up with this blog and not only wait until I have a complete article to offer to the cyberspace, I am adding this poem translated to English as well. The painting with flying books over the ocean is mine, and the books have the poem of Los Justos on the cover. I painted this in order to honor wisdom and knowledge.
Antonieta
Los Justos
de Jorge Luis Borges
Un hombre que cultiva un jardín, como quería Voltaire.
El que agradece que en la tierra haya música.
El que descubre con placer una etimología.
Dos empleados que en un café del Sur juegan un silencioso ajedrez.
El ceramista que premedita un color y una forma.
Un tipógrafo que compone bien esta página, que tal vez no le agrada
Una mujer y un hombre que leen los tercetos finales de cierto canto.
El que acaricia a un animal dormido.
El que justifica o quiere justificar un mal que le han hecho.
El que agradece que en la tierra haya Stevenson.
El que prefiere que los otros tengan razón.
Esas personas, que se ignoran, están salvando el mundo.
My (very bad translation to English)
The righteous
Jorge Luis Borges
A man who cultivates a garden as Voltaire wanted.
The one that is grateful that there is music on earth
The one that discovers the pleasure of an etymology
Two coffee shop employees in the South that silently play chess
The ceramist who premeditates a color and a form
The typographer who fixes that page that maybe dislikes
One woman and a man who read two final tercets of some song.
The one that caress a sleeping animal
The one that justifies or tries to justify the bad deeds of others
The one that is grateful that there is Stevenson on earth
The one that prefers that others be right most of the time.
These people that ignore themselves, are saving the world.
