Del Mezzo Del Camin
by Antonio Machado

Selected and Translated from Spanish
by Gill Schwartz

In the middle of the road, my breast
was pierced by the arrow of an ill-timed love.
It showed in the sureness of its shot
that it had long been lurking above.

Thus a magnet that to attract, repels.
(Oh clear eyes with furtive gaze!)
Love that hurts, incites, does flatter and amaze,
and offers more, the more it eludes.

If a grain of such thought could glow,
not in the lover, but in the love, it would be
the deepest truth that one could know.

And the mirror of love would break,
broken its enchantment, and broken the
panther of lust the heart might take.

Copyright Nathaniel Schwartz 2003   www.WisdomVisions.com