Borges, Jorge Luis:
Spinoza : [Sonett]

In: El otro, el mismo- Buenos Aires : Emecé, 1964: 78. - (Obra poética)

Other editions / translations: Erneut/again in: Borges en la escuela freudiana de Buenos Aires. - Buenos Aires : Agelma, 1993: 72
Deutsch/German (1987) in: Borges, Jorge Luis [e.a.]: Die Anderen (1987)

Literature type: Lyrics, Prose, Films, Arts
Language: Spanish
Thematic areas: Reception history, Literary or artistic representation

English commentary: Spinoza
by Jorge Luis Borges
The Jew's hands, translucent in the dusk,
polish the lenses time and again.
The dying afternoon is fear, is
cold, and all afternoons are the same.
The hands and the hyacinth-blue air
that whitens at the Ghetto edges
do not quite exist for this silent
man who conjures up a clear labyrinth—
undisturbed by fame, that reflection
of dreams in the dream of another
mirror, nor by maidens' timid love.
Free of metaphor and myth, he grinds
a stubborn crystal: the infinite
map of the One who is all His stars.

(translated by Richard Howard, César Rennert)

Link to this page: http://spinoza.hab.de/detail.php?id=7177&LANG=EN