Octavio Paz "Fable"
The age of fire and the age of air
The youth of water springing
From green to yellow
Yellow to red
From dream to vigil
From desire to act
You needed only a step and that taken without effort
The insects then were jewels who were alive
The heat lay down to rest at the edge of the pool
Rain was the light hair of a willow-tree
There was a tree growing within your hand
And as it grew it sang laughed prophesied
It cast the spells that cover space with wings
There were the simple miracles called birds
Everything belonged to everyone
Everyone was everything
Only one word existed immense without opposite
A word like a sun
One day exploded into smallest fragments
They were the words of the language that we speak
They are the splintered mirrors where the world
can see itself slaughtered
