Simplicity - Jorge Luis Borges

The garden gate swings open,

gently, like a page in a book

that I have often questioned,

and deep in my own vision

there is no need to look

upon any of the objects

that memory

has already completed.

I know the souls and the customs,

the dialects of allusions

that humanity has strung together.

And I have no need to speak

or claim false privilege.

They know me well around here.

They know my sorrows and my weaknesses.

And I know what it means

to attain heaven’s highest blessing:

not to be admired or victorious,

but simply to be accepted

as a part of undeniable reality

like the stones and the trees.

---

Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986) Argentina

Translated by Paul Weinfield

Source: Paul Weinfield Translations