Anthem to imperfection

I recently saw the following verses:

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”
(Leonard Cohen, Anthem)

What a powerful piece of poetry! My interpretation from a liberation perspective is:

Use what you have available
Build on top of what is there
It does not matter if it is broken
It does not matter if it does not run smoothly
It is yours; perhaps the only thing you have
Offer it with an open heart
Do not worry about the reception
Nothing is perfect
But all is good
Because it is there, in the stain
That the best in us can flourish

(Thanks to Linda Jones for sharing some of Cohen’s wisdom).

Bet on the Sprout

The following is a poem by Benjamin Gonzalez Buelta. It makes me think of the spirit on which any sustainable development practice should be based:

Apostaremos por lo germinal con toda la verdad
de un amor que se derrama como el agua,
que no pregunta cómo crecerá la planta
ni exige una altura a tiempo fijo,
ni impone una dirección precisa,
ni urge los frutos más temprano
compitiendo,
mirando de soslayo los otros árboles del huerto
que crecen a su lado.

Apostaremos como el agua
que cree en el poder de la semilla,
en el sol que guía el tallo en su estatura,
y en la tierra que la nutre sin descanso

Apostaremos por lo germinal como Tu,
como el agua de la Vida.
_____________________
(Mi own translation:)

We will bet on the sprout with all the truth
of a love that overflows like water,
one which does not ask how the plant will grow
nor demands a certain height at a fixed time
nor imposes a precise direction
nor urges to mature the fruits earlier
competing,
comparing it to the other trees in the orchard
growing beside it

We will bet on it like the water
which believes in the power of the seed,
in the sun that guides the stem in its height,
and in the soil that nurtures it restlessly.

We will bet on the sprout like You,
Like the water of life

(Thanks to my friend Rodrigo Quintero for sharing this with me)