Borges - VIÑETAS CARDINALES DE BUENOS AIRES (1927)

 VIÑETAS CARDINALES DE BUENOS AIRES


NORTE
Almacén rosadito de los que a mí me gustan.
La luna entera, encima.
La luna oronda, dura.
El almacén — de tierno — una mejilla.

SUR
Ésta, que no es mi tierra,
porque no quiere darme ni un querer ni otra pena,
cuida en los verdes patios, cedrón y caña de ámbar…
¡Lo bien que yo sabría merecerla!

ESTE
El viento zamarrea las esquinas tembleques
del Paseo de Julio.
En la noche rotosa, los compadritos muertos
le apuntalan los muros.

OESTE
El callejón final con su poniente.
Inauguración de la pampa.
Inauguración de la muerte.

 

*Inicial, Buenos Aires, Año 3, Nº 11, febrero de 1927.

 

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CARDINAL VIGNETTES OF BUENOS AIRES

NORTH A pinkish store of the kind I like. The full moon, above. The plump, hard moon. The store - so tender - a cheek.

SOUTH This land, which is not mine, because it refuses to give me either love or another sorrow, tends in the green patios, lemon verbena and amber cane... How well I would deserve it!

EAST The wind shakes the trembling corners of Paseo de Julio. In the tattered night, the dead tough guys prop up its walls.

WEST The final alley with its sunset. Inauguration of the pampas. Inauguration of death."

 

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