The Mask

“Put off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes.”
“O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold.”

“I would but find what’s there to find,
Love or deceit.”
“It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not what’s behind.”

“But lest you are my enemy,
I must enquire.”
“O no, my dear, let all that be;
What matter, so there is but fire
In you, in me?”

”The Mask”
W.B. Yeats

“Quítate esa máscara de oro en llamas
con ojos de esmeralda.”
“Oh, no, querido, te atreves tanto
para ver si es sabio o salvaje el corazón
Y no es frío sin embargo.”

“Solo quiero encontrar lo que allí hay,
Si el amor o el engaño.”
“Fue la máscara lo que ocupó tu mente
Y puso a latir tu corazón después,
no lo que hay tras ella.”

“Pero a menos que seas mi enemiga,
yo debo indagar.”
“Oh, no, querido, olvida todo eso.
¿Qué importa que haya solo fuego
en ti, en mí?”

”La Mascara”
W.B. Yeats
(Traducción por Nicolás Suescún)

A list of things

Dear listeners, here is a list of things.

• Emotions you don’t understand upon viewing a sunset
• Lost pets, found
• Lost pets, unfound
• A secret lost pet city on the moon
• Trees that see
• Restaurants that hear
• A void that thinks
• A face half-seen just before falling asleep
• Trembling hands reaching for desperately needed items
• Sandwiches
• Silence when there should be noise
• Noise when there should be silence
• Nothing when you want something
• Something when you thought there was nothing
• Clear plastic binder sheets
• Scented dryer sheets
• Rain coming down in sheets
• Night
• Rest
• Sleep
• End

Goodnight, listeners. Goodnight.

“The Glow Cloud” Excerpt
(”Welcome to Night Vale” Ep. 02)

The Glow Cloud

Sometimes you go through things that seem huge at the time, like a mysterious glowing cloud devouring your entire community. While they’re happening they feel like the only thing that matters, and you can hardly imagine that there’s a world out there that might have anything else going on.

And then the Glow Cloud moves on. And you move on. And the event is behind you. And you may find that, as time passes, you remember it less and less. Or absolutely not at all, in my case.

And you are left with nothing but a powerful wonder at the fleeting nature of even the most important things in life – and the faint but pretty smell of vanilla.

“The Glow Cloud” Excerpt
(”Welcome to Night Vale” Ep. 02)

The Waste Land

Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer and snarl
From doors of mudcracked houses
                                     If there were water
  And no rock
  If there were rock
  And also water
  And water
  A spring
  A pool among the rock
  If there were the sound of water only
  Not the cicada
  And dry grass singing
  But sound of water over a rock
  Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
  Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
  But there is no water

“The Waste Land” (Excerpt)
T.S. Eliot    

Aquí no hay agua sino sólo roca
roca y nada de agua y el camino arenoso
el camino que serpentea arriba entre las montañas
que son montañas de roca sin agua
si hubiera agua nos detendríamos a beber
entre la roca uno no puede detenerse o pensar
el sudor está seco y los pies están en la arena
se al menos hubiera agua entre la roca
muerta boca de montaña de dientes cariados que puede escupir
aquí no puede uno ni pararse ni acostarse ni sentarse
ni siquiera hay silencio en las montañas
sino seco estéril trueno sin lluvia
si siquiera hay soledad en las montañas
sino sombríos rostros rojos que escarnecen y gruñen
desde puertas de casas de barro agrietado
si hubiera agua
y no roca
si hubiera roca
y también agua
y agua
un manantial
un charco entre la roca
si al menos hubiera el rumor del agua
no la cigarra
y la seca hierba cantando
sino rumor de agua sobre una roca
donde el tordo ermitaño canta en los pinos
tic toc tic toc toc toc
pero no hay agua 

“La Tierra Baldía” (Fragmento)
T.S. Eliot  

The Path

She goes in and finds the bag of hearts and is running out, and a voice calls after her. “Stop. stop.” It’s the voice of the magician. And she continues to run and he says. “You may think you can get away from me, but you never can.” And just at that point, she hears the voice of the old man, he says, I’ll help you, dear.” And he’s pulling her out of the water; she didn’t even know that she was in water.

-What does that say to you?

-That’s to say you have moved out of the hard land, the solid earth, and are in the field of the unconscious. And she had pulled herself into the transcendent realm and got caught in the negative powers of the abyss, and she’s being rescued now by the upper powers. What you have done has been to elevate yourself out of the local field and put yourself in the field of higher power, higher danger. And are you going to be able to handle it? If you are not eligible for this place into which you’ve put yourself, it’s going to be a demon marriage, it’s going to be a real mess. If you are eligible, it can be a glory that will give you a life that is yours, in your own way.

“The Hero’s Adventure”
Joseph Campbell’s interview by Bill Moyers