“Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.
All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can't be touched.
Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.
Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.
The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.
I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.
The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.”

—  Octavio Paz

The quote "Between going and staying the day wavers, in love with its own transparency. The circul…" is famous quote attributed to Octavio Paz (1914–1998), Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Between Going and Staying

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 18, 2023. History

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Octavio Paz photo
Octavio Paz 71
Mexican writer laureated with the 1990 Nobel Prize for Lite… 1914–1998

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