Finish with Everything, by Octavio Paz

Give me, invisible flame, cold sword,

You persistent anger,

To finish with everything,

Oh dry world,

Oh bleeding world,

To finish with everything.

Burn, dismal, burn without flames,

quenched and ardent,

Ashes and living rock,

Desert without shore.

Burn in the vast heavens, sandstone and cloud,

Under the blind light that collapses

Between sterile cliffs.

Burn in the solitude that tears us apart,

Land of burning stone,

Of frozen and thirsty roots.

Burn, hidden fury,

Maddening ashes,

burn invisible, burn,

Like the impotent seas breeding clouds,

Waves like the rancor and rocky foam.

Burn between my delirious bones;

Burn inside the hollow air,

Invisible and pure kiln,

Burn like time burns,

Like time walking towards death,

With its own steps and breath;

Burn like the solitude that devours you,

Burn in yourself, burn without flame,

Solitude without an image, thirst without lips.

To finish with everything,

Oh dry world,

To finish with everything.

Freedom Through the Word. Poetic work (1935-1957)

Mexican Literature.

Fondo de Cultura Económica.

First reprint in Spain, 1990.