#15. PINE / PI
The ways of yesterday assure my longing and my being / Pretéritas normas confirman mi anhelo, mi ser, mi existir
THE SONG OF THE PINES
Pine trees! Brothers on land and in the air,
I love you all! You’re sweet, good, and somber.
One might say that you’re trees who think and care,
pampered by sunrises, poets, and birds.
The winged sandal must have grazed your brow.
You’re masts, proscenia, and a curule chair.
Solar pines! Pines from Italy! How
bathed you are in grace and blue glory there.
Without the sun’s gold, you can be gloomy,
covered in glacial mists and dew.
Pines at night in mountains of reverie,
pines from northern climes, you’re beautiful, too.
You move like mimes, actors, or a statue,
stretching toward the sweet caress of the sea.
Sacred pines, I will never forget you!
Pines from Naples, loved by flowers and me!
While wandering in my pilgrim’s journey,
where I can dream my dreams, I found lovely
pines on Golden Island that granted me,
a heartfelt place for you, a place to be.
Love because they’re so sad, so soft and fair,
or for their fragrance like some immense bloom,
for a certain monkish air and long hair:
their sounds, their nests of love, their sap’s perfume.
Ancient pines shaken by the wind’s presence
in epic poems and loved by the sun!
Lyric pines growing in the Renaissance
and in the soil of some Spanish garden!
Aeolian arms sway together
when a violent gust with its fury
makes silken sounds, sounds of feathers,
as it passes, sounds of surf and sea.
There was that night when the hand of Fate
brought the bitter sorrows that enfold me.
The moon used silver on the pine to plate
its blackness. A nightingale consoled me.
We’re Romantics… Is there anyone who Is,
who isn’t? If you’ve never met the test
of love and pain, or never sung a kiss,
hang yourself from a pine: it’s for the best…
Not me. The ways of yesterday assure
my longing and my being. I endure
with reveries and shapes as their lover
from far away, heading toward the future.
Rubén Darío
PINE
Longevity, persistence, strength and creativity. Pines are a symbol of immortality, 4000 year old pines have been found in the west of the United States. Evergreen leaves transmit resistance to adversities. The pine was the sacred tree of the Phrygian mythology and it was associated with Attis, the god of vegetation. The pine was an element of the Dionysian thyrsus that symbolized fruitfulness, resurrection, and intoxication. The pine cone crowns some representations of the Tree of Life, the fountain of fecundity, transformation and healing. Doctor Bach used pine flowers to heal self-destructive behaviors produced by guilt. Christmas trees full of pine cones are an image of fertility and good luck. In the first centuries of Christianity, the pine was considered a malefic tree because it was associated with pagan deities like Pan, Dionysus, and Attis.
For a few moments there, I was happier than happy, healthier than healthy, and I saw these words scrawled on the tiles over a wash basin:
"To be is to do" —Socrates
"To do is to be" —Jean Paul Sartre
"Do be do be do" —Frank Sinatra
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
LA CANCIÓN DE LOS PINOS
¡Oh, pinos, oh hermanos en tierra y ambiente,
yo os amo! Sois dulces, sois buenos, sois graves.
Diríase un árbol que piensa y que siente
mimado de auroras, poetas y aves.
Tocó vuestra frente la alada sandalia;
habéis sido mástil, proscenio, curul,
¡oh pinos solares, oh pinos de Italia,
bañados de gracia, de gloria, de azul!
Sombríos, sin oro del sol, taciturnos,
en medio de brumas glaciales y en
montañas de ensueños, ¡oh pinos nocturnos,
oh pinos del Norte, sois bellos también!
Con gestos de estatuas, de mimos, de actores,
tendiendo a la dulce caricia del mar,
oh pinos de Nápoles, rodeados de flores,
oh pinos divinos, no os puedo olvidar!
Cuando en mis errantes pasos peregrinos
la Isla Dorada me ha dado un rincón
do soñar mis sueños, encontré los pinos,
los pinos amados de mi corazón.
Amados por tristes, por blandos, por bellos.
Por su aroma, aroma de una inmensa flor,
por su aire de monjes, sus largos cabellos,
sus savias, ruïdos y nidos de amor.
¡Oh pinos antiguos que agitara el viento
de las epopeyas, amados del sol!
¡Oh líricos pinos del Renacimiento,
y de los jardines del suelo español!
Los brazos eolios se mueven el paso
del aire violento que forma al pasar
ruidos de pluma, ruidos de raso,
ruidos de agua y espumas de mar.
¡Oh noche en que trajo tu mano, Destino,
aquella amargura que aún hoy es dolor!
La luna argentaba lo negro de un pino,
y fui consolado por un ruiseñor.
Románticos somos… ¿Quién que Es, no es romántico?
Aquel que no sienta ni amor ni dolor,
aquel que no sepa de beso y de cántico,
que se ahorque de un pino: será lo mejor…
Yo, no. Yo persisto. Pretéritas normas
confirman mi anhelo, mi ser, mi existir.
¡Yo soy el amante de ensueños y formas
que viene de lejos y va al porvenir!
Rubén Darío
PI
Longevitat, constància, força i creativitat. Els pins són un símbol d’immortalitat, a l’oest dels Estats Units s’hi han trobat pins de més de 4000 anys. La fulla perenne transmet resistència a les adversitats. El pi era l’arbre sagrat de la mitologia frígia i estava associat al culte a Atis, el déu de la vegetació. Una pinya culminava la punta del bastó de Dionís, la divinitat grega de la vida indestructible, l’ebrietat i el renaixement. La pinya del pi també corona algunes representacions de l’Arbre de la Vida, la font de la fecunditat, la curació i la transformació. Els arbres de Nadal farcits de pinyes són un símbol de fertilitat i bons auguris. El doctor Bach feia servir les flors del pi per tractar comportaments autodestructius producte de la culpa. Als inicis del cristianisme el pi era considerat un arbre malèfic per ser reverenciat en rituals pagans a Dionís, Atis i Pan.
Durant un instant vaig ser més feliç que la felicitat, més sa que la salut, i vaig veure aquests gargots sobre les rajoles del lavabo:
"To be is to do" —Socrates
"To do is to be" —Jean Paul Sartre
"Do be do be do" —Frank Sinatra
El bala perduda de Kurt Vonnegut
