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| People visit a photographic exhibition in honour of Chilean poet Nicanor Parra in Santiago, on August 19, 2014. |
Whether we like it or not,
We have only three choices:
Yesterday, today and tomorrow.
And not even three
Because as the philosopher says
Yesterday is yesterday
It belongs to us only in memory:
From the rose already plucked
No more petals can be drawn.
The cards to play
Are only two:
The present and the future.
And there aren't even two
Because it's a known fact
The present doesn't exist
Except as it edges past
And is consumed...
like youth.
In the end
We are only left with tomorrow.
I raise my glass
To the day that never arrives.
But that is all
we have at our disposal.
Nicanor Parra
The Chilean poet, mathematician, and physicist
will be celebrating his one hundredth birthday
two weeks from today on September 5, 2014.
¡Feliz cumpleaños!
The AFP Photo by Martin Bernetti appears
in today's Art Daily newsletter.
© artdaily.org
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Footnote
To read the poem in Chilean, click here.
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