LXVII
LIFE OF THE SPIRIT

My language is the lifeblood of my spirit
and my country is wherever its sovereign word
is spoken, because nothing diminishes its voice
no matter how much it encompasses both worlds.

Seneca heralded it even before its birth
and he enclosed it in his austere Latin;
with it Alfonso gave life to Europe and
Columbus increased the size of the earth.

This language of mine floats like the vessel
of a hundred different and faraway races,
and from it blossoms the flower of national heroes

like Juárez and Rizal; then, embracing
a legion of peoples, it was the language in which
God gave Cervantes the Gospel of Don Quijote.