ELEGÍA 19: ANTES DE ACOSTARSE
Ven, ven, todo reposo mi fuerza desafía.
Reposar es mi fuerza pues tendido me
esfuerzo:
No es enemigo el enemigo
Hasta que no lo ciñe nuestro mortal
abrazo.
Tu ceñidor desciñe, meridiano
Que un mundo mas hermoso que el del
cielo
Aprisiona en su luz; desprende
El prendedor de estrellas que llevas en
el pecho
Por detener ojos entrometidos;
Desenlaza tu ser, campanas armoniosas
Nos dicen, sin decirlo, que es hora de
acostarse.
Ese feliz corpiño que yo envidio,
Pegado a ti como si fuese vivo:
¡Fuera! Fuera el vestido, surjan valles
salvajes
Entre las sombras de tus montes, fuera
el tocado,
Caiga tu pelo, tu diadema,
Descálzate y camina sin miedo hasta la
cama.
También de blancas ropas revestidos los ángeles
El cielo al hombre muestran, mas tú,
blanca, contigo
A un cielo mahometano me conduces.
Verdad que los espectros van de blanco
Pero por ti distingo al buen del mal espíritu:
Uno hiela la sangre, tú la enciendes.
Deja correr mis manos vagabundas
Atrás, arriba, enfrente, abajo y entre,
Mi América encontrada: Terranova,
Reino sólo por mi poblado,
Mi venero precioso, mi dominio.
Goces, descubrimientos,
Mi libertad alcanzo entre tus lazos:
Lo que toco, mis manos lo han sellado.
La plena desnudez es goce entero:
Para gozar la gloria las almas
desencarnan,
Los cuerpos se desvisten.
Las joyas que te cubren
Son como las pelotas de Atalanta:
Brillan, roban la vista de los tontos.
La mujer es secreta:
Apariencia pintada,
Como libro de estampas para indoctos
Que esconde un texto místico, tan sólo
Revelado a los ojos que traspasan
Adornos y atavíos.
Quiero saber quien eres tú: desvístete,
Sé natural como al nacer,
Mas allá de la pena y la inocencia
Deja caer esa camisa blanca,
Mírame, ven, ¿qué mejor manta
Para tu desnudez, que yo, desnudo?
Versiones y diversiones, México, 1973.
TO HIS MISTRESS GOING TO BED
Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers
defy,
Until I labour, I in labour lie.
The foe oft-times having the foe in
sight,
Is tir’d with standing though he never
fight.
Off with that girdle, like heaven’s Zone
glistering,
But a far fairer world encompassing.
Unpin that spangled breastplate which
you wear,
That th’eyes of busy fools may be
stopped there.
Unlace yourself, for that harmonious
chime,
Tells me from you, that now it is bed
time.
Off with that happy busk, which I envy,
That still can be, and still can stand
so nigh.
Your gown going off, such beauteous state
reveals,
As when from flowery meads th’hill’s
shadow steals.
Off with that wiry Coronet and shew
The hairy Diadem which on you doth grow:
Now off with those shoes, and then
safely tread
In this love’s hallow’d temple, this
soft bed.
In such white robes, heaven’s Angels
used to be
Received by men; Thou Angel bringst with
thee
A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise; and
though
Ill spirits walk in white, we easily
know,
By this these Angels from an evil
sprite,
Those set our hairs, but these our flesh
upright.
Licence my roving
hands, and let them go,
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O my America! my new-found-land,
My kingdom, safeliest when with one man
mann’d,
My Mine of precious stones, My Empirie,
How blest am I in this discovering thee!
To enter in these bonds, is to be free;
Then where my hand is set, my seal shall
be.
Full nakedness! All
joys are due to thee,
As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must
be,
To taste whole joys. Gems which you
women use
Are like Atlanta’s balls, cast in men’s
views,
That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a
Gem,
His earthly soul may covet theirs, not
them.
Like pictures, or like books’ gay
coverings made
For lay-men, are all women thus array’d;
Themselves are mystic books, which only
we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
Must see reveal’d. Then since that I may
know;
As liberally, as to a Midwife, shew
Thy self: cast all, yea, this white
linen hence,
There is no penance due to innocence.
To teach thee, I am
naked first; why then
What needst thou have more covering than
a man.
