Miguel De Unamuno – An Eternal Elegy
Oh Time, Time,
relentless tyrant!
Oh terrible mystery!
The past does not return,
it never comes back again,
ancient history!
Yes, ancient, but always the same,
terrifying!
Always present…
. . . . . . . . . . . .
When consciousness is deprived
of the passage of time,
what is it that remains?
What happens to light if the mirror is broken?
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Fierce Saturn,
oh Time, Time!
Lord of the world,
executioner of your children,
supreme cause of our bondage!
–
Once again the complaint,
once again the eternal song
that never ends,
how all is lost and nothing remains,
that time is passing
irreparably!
Irreparably, irreparably, do you hear?
Irreparably!
Yes, irreparably, and never forget it!
Life? Life is constantly dying,
it is like the river
in which the same water
never returns again
and yet is always the same.
In the crystal of the flowing liquids
the waving poplars on the river bank
are reflected
and the trembling image is never reflected
by the same water.
–
What is the past? Nothing!
The future you dream is also nothing
and the passing moment
is a mysterious transition to emptiness;
to emptiness once again!
It is a torrent that flows
from nothingness to nothingness.
The moment you touch it
all tender hope,
as if by magic or enchantment,
becomes a memory,
a memory that grows fainter
and is finally lost;
is lost forever.
Oh Time, Time!
Repeat, oh my soul, yes repeat once again
the same old song,
the sad litany,
the never ending dirge,
the same old elegy
of how time passes
and is never the same again.
–
The ”Alas!” of the one who is suffering
this ancient grief
is always the same,
the same old lament;
repeating it gives consolation,
an unceasing rosary, like the rain
again and again, a hundred times…
Oh Time, Time,
relentless tyrant!
Oh terrible mystery!
Rigid torture rack of the human spirit!
How limited words are…!
Language is never enough to describe
our thirst for eternity;
it is too limited…
A terrible thirst,
a thirst that constantly weakens the soul
that contemplates the ocean,
– the immense ocean! –
which never satisfies our thirst;
it only fills our vision,
an immense ocean of bitter waves!
–
Images? They disturb the profound
nakedness of our lament,
embellishments that drown out
the single note that is deep and strong…
But, yes, images, different chords
that calm the melodic theme…
. . . . . . . . . . . .
It is the elegy that silence intones,
silence, language of the eternal,
while eternity exists
as the slave of time…
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Did you destroy your watch? Not enough!
Lay down and go to sleep… that is best;
immersed forever
in a profound sleep
you will have conquered time,
your implacable enemy!
Yesterday, today and tomorrow!
A chain of grief
with links of anxiety…
You grip the horse’s mane
with tense hands
refusing to let go
and it runs faster and faster,
a runaway horse;
the tighter you hold on
the more maddening is its passage!
–
Don’t mutter out of one side of your mouth,
fierce Saturn!
Enough now, that’s enough of your hours,
implacable enemy!
Stop this interminable drudgery
once and for all!
I want to escape from time;
exhausted, I want to finally
dissolve myself into the eternal
where yesterday, today and tomorrow
are only one moment
disconnected from the passage of time;
where a tender memory
is linked with hope
and merges with it;
where the never-quiescent waters
of the passing rivers
remain forever in a quiet lake;
where the soul can finally be
immersed in a bath of consolation
where Saturn dies;
where time is defeated.
(Fransisco Goya – Saturn Devouring His Son, 1819-1823)
* In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, Saturn (or Cronus/Kronos) was a titan (the titans predated the Greek/Roman gods) who castrated and overthrown his own father (Caelus/Uranus) and then he was eating his own children, because of a prophecy that he would be overthrown by one of them. This mythological figure’s meaning was later examined and analyzed by many (including Freud and Jung).
Some information about Cronus/Saturn:
https://www.tripsavvy.com/greek-mythology-kronos-1525980
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanKronos.html
https://www.theworldwonders.com/mythology/myths-legends3-cronus.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(mythology)
https://www.pantagruelista.com/blogeng/cronus-myth
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Classical_Mythology/Freudian_psychology
http://iws.collin.edu/mbailey/jungianarchetypes.htm