'Where true language lives'

 

“Languageis what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise andsilence of nature and history.” – Octavio Paz
 

Born on March 31, 1914 Mexicanwriter Octavio Paz Lozano held the rare distinction of being both a diplomatand a writer.  He won three major writingawards capped by the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.

 

Paz wrote the first of his long,ambitious poems "Between the Stone and the Flower" at age 23.  The work explores the situation of Mexicanpeasants under the domineering landlords of the day.  From that point Pazserved his country as both a diplomat and an eloquent and bold writer about life, the land, and the people around him.

 

"The poetry of OctavioPaz," wrote the critic Ramon Xirau, "does not hesitate between languageand silence; it leads into the realm of silence where true languagelives."  For Saturday’s Poem, hereis Paz’s,

  

TheBridge

Between now and now,
between I am and you are,
the word bridge.

Entering it
you enter yourself:
the world connects
and closes like a ring.

From one bank to another,
there is always
a body stretched:
a rainbow.
I'll sleep beneath its arches.

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