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Summing Up

Reading this poem by Claribel Alegria made me want to learn Spanish just to enjoy it more fully - much like when I first read Neruda's Isla Negra. The last lines of Summing Up are so amazingly luminous even in translation, that you can only wonder what you are missing out not knowing Spanish

 your eyes bathing me in love
one forget-me-not afternoonthe desire to mold myselfinto a versea crya fleck of foam.

 Reading that made me think about that look Alegria speaks of where you feel bathed in love. It may come about a few times in life - love of different kinds - filial, platonic, carnal and more. The look can become your raison d'etre in a difficult time, help you reset and restart the business of living life. And indeed you wish you could hold that moment forever - mold yourself into a verse as the poet says.
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