Descartes by Jorge Luis Borges I am the only man on earth, but perhaps there is neither earth nor man. Perhaps a god is deceiving me. Perhaps a god has sentenced me to time, that lasting illusion. I dream the moon and I dream my eyes perceiving the moon. I have dreamed the morning and evening of the first day. I have dreamed Carthage and the legions that laid waste to Carthage. I have dreamed Lucan. I have dreamed the hill of Golgotha and the Roman crosses. I have dreamed geometry. I have dreamed point, line, plane, and volume. I have dreamed yellow, blue, and red. I have dreamed my sickly chidhood. I have dreamed maps and kingdoms, and that grief at dawn. I have dreamed inconceivable sorrows. I have dreamed my sword. I have dreamed Elizabeth of Bohemia. I have dreamed doubt and certainty. I have dreamed the whole of yesterday. Perhaps there was no yesterday, perhaps I was never born. I may be dreaming of having dreamed. I feel a twinge of cold, a twinge of fear. Over the Danube, it is night. I shall go on dreaming of Descartes and of the faith of his fathers. Translated by Alastair Reid. From La cifra [The Limit], 1981. Descartes Soy el único hombre en la tierra y acaso no haya tierra ni hombre Acaso un dios me engaña. Acaso un dios me ha condenado al tiempo, esa larga ilusión. Sueño la luna y sueño mis ojos que perciben la luna. He soñado la tarde y la mañana del primer día. He soñado a Cartago y a las legiones que desolaron a Cartago. He soñado a Lucano. He soñado la colina del Gólgota y las cruces de Roma. He soñado la geometría. He soñado el punto, la línea, el plano y el volumen. He soñado el amarillo, el azul y el rojo. He soñado mi enfermiza niñez. He soñado los mapas y los reinos y aquel duelo en el alba. He soñado el inconcebible dolor. He soñado mi espada. He soñado a Elizabeth de Bohemia. He soñado la duda y la certidumbre. He soñado el día de ayer. Quizá no tuve ayer, quizá no he nacido. Acaso sueño haber soñado. Siento un poco de frío, un poco de miedo. Sobre el Danubio está la noche. Seguiré soñando a Descartes y a la fe de sus padres.

SOURCE: Borges, Jorge Luis. Selected Poems, edited by Alexander Coleman (New York: Viking, 1999), English, p. 417; Spanish, p. 416.

"Baruch Spinoza" — poem by Jorge Luis Borges

“Spinoza” by Jorge Luis Borges,
translated by Yirmiyahu Yovel

“Spinoza” poem by Jorge Luis Borges,
translated by Richard Howard & César Rennert

“Spinozo” de Jorge Luis Borges, tradukis Julius Balbin

Descartes & Marxism: Selected Bibliography

Jorge Luis Borges: Selected Study Materials on the Web