Francisco Albánez: "The One Who Is at Home"

Each day I long so much to see
The true teacher. And each time
At dusk when I open the cabin
Door and empty the teapot,
I think I know where he is:
West of us in the forest.

Or perhaps I am the one
Who is out in the night,
The forest sand wet under
My feet, moonlight shining
On the sides of the birch trees,
The sea far off gleaming.

And he is the one who is
At home. He sits in my chair
Calmly; he reads and prays
All night. He loves to feel
His own body around him;
He does not leave the house.

 

"The One Who Is at Home" by Francisco Albánez. Text as published in The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men, edited by Robert Bly, James Hillman and Michael Meade (HarperCollins, 1992). Translated from the original Spanish by Robert Bly. The Spanish text couldn't be located.

Art credit: "Peaceful and warm image of open book resting on a [sic] arm rest of a couch," photograph by Jussi Pernaa.