The Unseen Hand and the Mirror of Time: Reflections on Velázquez, Shakespeare, and Identity

“The face is present in its refusal to be contained.”

— Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity

Neither Dulcinea nor the Escribidor, not

even me, of all people, mind you, the Other,

have ever seen the face,

nor the hand that secretly governs these words

words words and the faces faces faces repeated

in Diego Velázquez's mirror in Las Meninas,

including the constant becoming of the

the language played in Shakespeare's Hamlet

My only consolation is that neither Shakespeare

nor Velázquez ever knew about these things either,

they were just as oblivious as myself

I glance at the Timepiece and perceive that it indicates

that right now it is 10:00 pm, which is laughable

because that number lacks the measure of

our past hours…

In the meantime Time keeps on consuming us all equally…