I Am Not I
I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.
By Juan Ramón Jiménez
Translated by Robert Bly
“When I was writing I Am Not I, I happened to come across a poem by a great contemporary Spanish poet, Juan Ramón Jiménez. My book had not yet had a title and immediately it blazed in my mind that this is the title of the book which I’ve been working on. It underlies the whole message of my book.”
Jacob Needleman, Ph.D., professor of philosophy
and author of many books including I Am Not I.