To Helen Vendler
To accomplish the simplicity
Of words that learned how to dance
Without much support from a dancer
Who learned the steps of deserved living
From the vigor of his dancing mind.
Is it a dance or the dancing?
Is it to live or to be lived?
It was not the dancer, but the dancing;
It was not the life, but the living mind;
The truth of living found in dancing.
If he had chosen only to live,
The dance would have been much less lively.
It was the dancer who followed the dance;
The dance, living the dancer's life.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I really like this line: THE TRUTH OF LIVING FOUND IN DANCING. Indeed, the poet's dance took the form of distilling the truths of living. This was how he chose to live. Every choice implies regrets..