Francesc Parcerisas

Francesc Parcerisas Poems

Francesc Parcerisas Biography

Francesc Parcerisas, born 1944 in Begues, studied philosophy at the University of Barcelona. Today he is professor of translation there. Parcerisas has published numerous poetry collections and translated, among others, works from Poe, Rimbaud and Tolkien into Spanish and Catalan. Since 1998 he has been director of the Institució de les Letres Catalanes.)

The Best Poem Of Francesc Parcerisas

Act of Gratitude

Thank you, angel. Thank you, demons of the night.
Thank you, winter where the heart burns
arid tree-trunks of desire. Thank you,
bracing cold light, nocturnal water.
Thank you, midnight bile,
laurel of morning, hoopoe of dawn.
For what's odd, unexpected, wild,
for evil and pain, thank you.
For the sum of what we are
and are not,
for all we avoid
and all we crave.
Thanks for the lush words,
love and silver,
for yourself and myself.
Thank you for yes and for no.
For the ability to give thanks
and for rendering them unnecessary.
Thanks for fear,
for bread and oil,
for the night time.
Thank you for lovemaking
at the break of day, for the coin
discovered on the ground,
for your hand on my cheek,
the gush of the fountain.
Thank you for your eyes and lips,
for crying out my name with joy.
Many thanks, death, for your existence,
for making all these things
more vivid inside me- so very yours,
so beautiful, brimming, and complete.

Translated by Cyrus Cassells

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