© Joseph Pielichaty
Emma Thompson (or Nanny McPhee if you are under 12) has recently talked about how reading – and Jane Austen in particular – helped her through depression. She also mentioned the poem Instantes by Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986) as being one that cheers her up when she’s feeling down.
I hadn’t heard of the poem so I ‘Googled’ it. I can see what she means – I like the sentiment behind it if not the sentimentality of it.
Here is the poem:
Instantes
If I were to live my life anew,
In the next I would try to commit more errors.
I would not try to be so perfect. I would relax more.
I would be more foolish than I’ve been,
In fact, I would take few things seriously.
I would be less hygienic.
I would run more risks,
take more vacations,
contemplate more sunsets,
climb more mountains, swim more rivers.
I would go to more places where I’ve never been,
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans,
I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.
I was one of those people who lived sensibly
and prolifically each minute of his life;
Of course I had moments of happiness.
If I could go back I would have only good moments.
Because if you didn’t know,
of that life is made: only of moments. Don’t lose the now.
I was one of those that never
went anywhere without a thermometer,
a hot water bottle,
an umbrella and a parachute;
if I could live again, I would travel lighter.
If I could live again,
I would begin to walk barefoot from the beginning of spring
and I would continue barefoot until autumn ends.
I would take more cart rides,
contemplate more dawns,
and play with more children,
If I had another life ahead of me.
But already you see, I am 85
and I know that I am dying.
Jorge Luis Borges
The line ‘Don’t lose the now’ is a car sticker waiting to happen, isn’t it?
According to his dates, Borges must have died a year after writing the poem; if indeed, he did write it. There seems to be some debate online as to whether it was his work or whether it was written by someone else copying his style and falsely claiming it to be by him. Anyway, thank you Emma Thompson for alerting me to the poem. A good way to start the week, I reckon.