So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
—Jorge Luis Borges
This is an excerpt from a larger poem called “You Learn” by Borges. While Borges was better known as a groundbreaking fiction writer of the mid-20th century, he, like many Latin American writers of the time, also dabbled in poetry.
What’s particularly interesting about this selection and about the poem it comes from is that unlike Rudyard Kipling’s “If—” (which is one of my favorite poems of all time), it is structured in such a way that several of these epigrams could be pulled out almost as successfully. Kipling’s poem is built stanza by stanza, and while each stanza could stand on its own, most of the lines couldn’t. Not because they aren’t quote-worthy, but because Kipling’s poem is layered in a way that each individual line depends on the ones around it. That’s a respectable form of art on its own, one which has fallen by the wayside as craftsmanship has given way to convenience.
These particular lines stand out because of the idea of decorating a soul. That’s such a beautiful, clear image on its own, even without the half-line that follows. Planting a garden just to decorate one’s soul. A slight scent of the ending of Voltaire’s Candide in the air.
Next week: Chuck Palahniuk on the creative process.
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