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Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are
friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.

(Li Po)

Esta manhã gostaria de ter dado ontem
um grande passeio àquela praia
onde ontem por sinal passei o dia
É difícil a vida dos homens senhor
Os anjos tinham outras possibilidades
e alguns deles foi o que tu sabes
Esta terra não está feita para nós
Mesmo que ela fosse diferente
nós quereríamos talvez outra terra
talvez esta de que agora dispomos
Não achas meu senhor que temos braços a mais
dias a mais complicações a mais?
Pra nascer e morrer seria necessário tanto?
Falhamos tantas vezes (Como os judeus que juraram
não comer nem beber até matar paulo
e apesar disso não o mataram)
É difícil a vida difícil a morte.
Por vezes os homens juntam-se todos
ou quase todos e organizam
grandes manifestações. Mas nada disso os dispensa
da grande solidão da morte
de termos de morrer cada um por nossa conta
Todos tivemos pai e mãe
nenhum de nós que eu saiba veio de salém

(Ruy Belo)

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

(William Ernest Henley)

“’YOUR eyes that once were never weary of mine
Are bowed in sotrow under pendulous lids,
Because our love is waning.’

And then She:
‘Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more,
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, passion, falls asleep.
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart!’
Pensive they paced along the faded leaves,
While slowly he whose hand held hers replied:
‘Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.’

The woods were round them, and the yellow leaves
Fell like faint meteors in the gloom, and once
A rabbit old and lame limped down the path;
Autumn was over him: and now they stood
On the lone border of the lake once more:
Turning, he saw that she had thrust dead leaves
Gathered in silence, dewy as her eyes,
In bosom and hair.

‘Ah, do not mourn,’ he said,
‘That we are tired, for other loves await us;
Hate on and love through unrepining hours.
Before us lies eternity; our souls
Are love, and a continual farewell.’”

((William Butler Yeats)

“é tarde meu amor
estou longe de ti com o tempo, diluíste-te nas veias das marés, na saliva de meu corpo
[ sofrido
agora, tuas máquinas trituraram-me, cospem-me, interrompem o sono
habito longe, no coração vivo das areias, no cuspo límpido dos corais…
a solidão tem dias mais cruéis

tentei ser teu, amar-te e amar o falso ouro…quis ser grande e morrer contigo
enfeitar-me com as tuas luas brancas, pratear a voz em tuas águas de seda…cantar-te os
[ gestos com ternura
mas não

águas, águas inquinadas pulsando dentro do meu corpo, como um peixe ferido, louco
em mim a lama… e o visco inocente dos teus náufragos sem nome-de-rua, nem
[ estátua-de-jardim-público
aceito o desafio do teu desdém

na boca ficou-me um gosto a salmoura e destruição
apenas possuo o corpo magoado destas poucas palavras tristes que te cantam”

(Al Berto in O Medo)

This animated rendition of Maurice Ogden’s poem “The Hangman” (published in a previous post) was produced in 1964. Narration is by Herschel Bernardi, while the music was composed and conducted by Serge Hovey.

“1.
Into our town the Hangman came,
Smelling of gold and blood and flame.
And he paced our bricks with a diffident air,
And built his frame in the courthouse square.

The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door.

And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
Who the criminal, what the crime
That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.

And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead –
Till one cried: “Hangman, who is he
For whom you raised the gallows-tree?”

Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
“He who serves me best,” said he,
“Shall earn the rope of the gallows-tree.”

And he stepped down, and laid his hand
On a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another’s grief
At the Hangman’s hand was our relief
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“Men jag älskar dig, jag älskar
dig du är den vackraste av
alla om du tror det eller ej,
fastän jag puttar dig ibland så
älskar jag dig. Jag hatar dig.
Älskling, jag hatar dig. Jag
förstår inte att du är äcklig
och gör så, jag förstår inte
hur du kunde göra så mot
mig! Åh vad jag älskar dig.”

(Jörgen Gassilewski i Kärleksdikter)

“You don’t survive in me
because of memories;
nor are you mine because
of a lovely longing’s strength.

What does make you present
is the ardent detour
that a slow tenderness
traces in my blood.

I do not need
to see you appear;
being born sufficed for me
to lose you a little less.”

(Rainer Maria Rilke)

“First
it is one day without you.

Then two.
And soon,

our point: moot.
And our solution, diluted.

And our class action (if ever was)
is no longer suited.

Wherewith I give to looting through
the war chest of our past

like a wily Anne Bonny
who snatches at plunder or graft.

But the wreck of that ransack,
that strongbox, our splintering coffer,

the claptrap bastard
of the best we had to offer,

is sog-soaked and clammy,
empty but for sand.

Like the knuckle-white cup
of my urgent, ghastly hands

in which nothing but
the ghost of love is held.

Damn it to hell.”

(Jill Alexander Essbaum)