Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula (A Compass)

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A migrant’s feet peek out of thermal blankets onboard the former fishing trawler Golfo Azzurro after being rescued along with other migrants, including children and pregnant women, by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms from a raft that drifted out of control in the central Mediterranean Sea: photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters, 3 January 2016 



A migrant’s feet peek out of thermal blankets onboard the former fishing trawler Golfo Azzurro after being rescued along with other migrants, including children and pregnant women, by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms from a raft that drifted out of control in the central Mediterranean Sea: photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters, 3 January 2016
 

Jorge Luis Borges: Una brújula

a Esther Zemborain de Torres

Todas las cosas son palabras del
idioma en que Alguien o Algo, noche y día,
escribe esa infinita algarabía
que es la historia del mundo. En su tropel

pasan Cartago y Roma, yo, tú, él,
mi vida que no entiendo, esta agonía
de ser enigma, azar, criptografía
y toda la discordia de Babel.

Detrás del nombre hay lo que no se nombra;
hoy he sentido gravitar su sombra
en esta aguja azul, lúcida y leve,

que hacia el confín de un mar tiende su empeño,
con algo de reloj visto en un sueño
y algo de ave dormida que se mueve.

A Compass

Every single thing becomes a word
in a language that Someone or Something, night and day,
writes down in a never-ending scribble,
which is the history of the world, embracing

Rome, Carthage, you, me, everyone, 
my life, which I do not understand, this anguish
of being enigma, accident and puzzle,
and all the discordant languages of Babel.

Behind each name lies that which has no name.
Today I felt its nameless shadow tremble 
in the blue clarity of the compass needle,

whose rule extends as far as the far seas,
something like a clock glimpsed in a dream
or a bird that stirs suddenly in its sleep.
 
Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986): Una brújula / A compass,  from El otro, el mismo, 1964; English version by Alastair Reid

The sister of Elias Wardini, centre, a Lebanese man who was killed in the New Year’s Eve Istanbul nightclub attack, mourns over her brother’s body during his funeral procession at a church, in Beirut, Lebanon:  photo by Hussein Malla/AP, 3 January 2017



The sister of Elias Wardini, centre, a Lebanese man who was killed in the New Year’s Eve Istanbul nightclub attack, mourns over her brother’s body during his funeral procession at a church, in Beirut, Lebanon:  photo by Hussein Malla/AP, 3 January 2017

CHILE - People work to extinguish the flames at a house in Valparaiso as the fire threatens to reach the city's port. By Christian Miranda: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Nora Villarroel, 59, tries to put out the fire in the remains of her burned house in Valparaiso, Chile, Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. The fire, driven by strong winds, swept through forest land in the hills outside the Chilean port of Valparaiso, destroying dozens of homes and sending a pall of heavy smoke down onto the city.: photo by Luis Hidalgo/AP via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

Huge wildfire burns homes in Valparaiso, Chile, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people: image via AFP news agency @AFP, 3 January 2017

#Chile - Huge wildfire burns homes in Valparaiso, Chile, forcing authorities to evacuate hundreds of people. By Francisco Venegas: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Meerkats stand together at the Opel #Zoo in Kronberg near Frankfurt, #Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. #APPhoto by Michael Probst: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

#Hungary - A three-day young giraffe baby is cleaned by its mother in 'Giraffe House' at Zoo of Budapest. By Attila Kisbenedek #AFP: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

An elephant plays with a Christmas tree at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin: photo by Tobias Schwarz/AFP, 3 January 2017



An elephant plays with a Christmas tree at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin: photo by Tobias Schwarz/AFP, 3 January 2017

GERMANY - An elephant plays with a Christmas tree at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin. By @tobiasschwarz #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

GAZA CITY - A Palestinian boy plays with a puppy at the beach in Gaza City. By @mohmdabed #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Afghan refugee Rukhsar Sameem, 4, covers her face with a teddy bear at the refugee camp of Oinofyta, 36 miles north of Athens. @Muheisen81: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 3 January 2017

Samah, 11, helps her father by collecting their belongings from their damaged house in Doudyan village, Aleppo: photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters, 3 January 2017

Samah, 11, helps her father by collecting their belongings from their damaged house in Doudyan village, Aleppo: photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters, 3 January 2017

#Syria A man walks past posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a shop front in #Damascus: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilise more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities: photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP, 3 January 2017

Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in the capital Sanaa to mobilise more fighters to battlefronts to fight pro-government forces in several Yemeni cities: photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP, 3 January 2017

\YEMEN - Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans as they ride a military vehicle during a gathering in Sanaa. By Mohammed Huwais #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

IRAQ - Iraqi special forces patrol the Al-Quds neighbourhood after recapturing it from IS during an operation to retake Mosul. By @ahmedafp: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

UAE - A man walks with his camel across the Liwa desert during the Liwa 2017 Moreeb Dune Festival. By @KarimSahibAFP #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

#Afghanistan Women walk through a snowfall in Paghman district some 21kms west of Kabul on January 3 #AFP photo by @kohsar: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017


INDIA - A Kashmiri man walks past a burst water pipe in Kokernag some 100kms south of Srinagar. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

 
#India #Kashmir Walkers journey along a snow covered road at Gulmarg, some 55kms north of Srinagar on January 3 #AFP Photo @TauseefMUSTAFA: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

 
People exercise amid heavy smog in Hefei, Anhui province China: photo by Reuters, 3 January 2017

People exercise amid heavy smog in Hefei, Anhui province China: photo by Reuters, 3 January 2017

CHINA - A man takes a picture with his phone in Tamar park in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong. By Isaac Lawrence #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

 #Palestinians A man walks on the beach as the sun sets over Gaza City on December 31, 2016  #AFP Photo by @mohmdabed:  image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 3 January 2017

Child guests of a U.S. House member take their seats in the House chamber for the ceremonial first day of the new session of Congress in Washington: photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, 3 January 2017

Child guests of a U.S. House member take their seats in the House chamber for the ceremonial first day of the new session of Congress in Washington: photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, 3 January 2017


 THAILAND - People walk between platforms at Hua Lampong central train station after the long New Year weekend, in Bangkok. By @The Lilyfish: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 3 January 2017

Seagulls fly above Lake Annecy in the town of Annecy, France. Annecy is a town in the Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is a popular tourist destination with many castles and cathedrals.: photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA, 3 January 2017

 

Seagulls fly above Lake Annecy in the town of Annecy, France. Annecy is a town in the Rhone-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is a popular tourist destination with many castles and cathedrals.: photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA, 3 January 2017