Día de los Muertos

On this All Souls Day/Day of the Dead/el Día de los Muertos, I thought I'd post a poem by the late Octavio Paz, one of Mexico's and the world's greatest poets of all time, which speaks to the precious passage--of time, between moments, between worlds.

Between Going and Staying

Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.
All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.
Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.
Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.
The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.
I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.
The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause

Copyright © Octavio Paz, 2006.

Si Simmons RIP
On this All Souls Day, many respectful departures to Si Simmons, the oldest and longest-lived former member of the Negro Leagues, who made it to 111 years and died the other day. Without his sacrifice and those of so many others, a good portion of today's players, including stars like Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Ryan Howard, and Dontrelle Willis, to name just a few, might not be where they are.