Poem
Luís Miguel Nava
Darkness
Darkness is beginningto dissolve our body,
like a bloody snow
falling from the sky
or like a stone that, falling
into a lake, opens it into
successive circles, some already
outside the water, right here in life.
Someone
in the midst of the landscape
brandishes a heater
while I, having just a handkerchief
for clothing,
cover my head with it to keep from dying.
Here everyone knows
that lakes start freezing at their edges
and man in his heart,
that light
rises from the void
and all we have left
is a discredited sun
in an indifferent sky,
darkness already wrapping
our bones, with death itself
seeming to serve as our skin,
like on a bat.
© Translation: 2008, Richard Zenith
As trevas
As trevas
Começam-nos as trevas a rompera carne, comparáveis
a neve que do céu
caísse ensanguentada
ou pedra que, ao tombar
num lago, o abrisse
em sucessivos círculos, alguns
dos quais já fora de água, em plena vida,
alguém
no meio da paisagem
empunha um calorífico
enquanto eu, que de roupa
não trago mais que um lenço,
com ele cubro a cabeça para não morrer,
aqui ninguém ignora
que os lagos gelam a partir das margens
e o homem a partir do coração,
que a luz
ascende do vazio
e tudo o que nos resta mais não é
que um sol sem crédito
num céu desafectado,
envolvem-nos as trevas
os ossos, dir-se-ia
que a própria morte
nos serve aqui de pele, como a um morcego.
© 1994, Fundação Luís Miguel Nava
From: Vulcão
Publisher: Quetzal, Lisbon
From: Vulcão
Publisher: Quetzal, Lisbon
Poems
Poems of Luís Miguel Nava
Close
Darkness
Darkness is beginningto dissolve our body,
like a bloody snow
falling from the sky
or like a stone that, falling
into a lake, opens it into
successive circles, some already
outside the water, right here in life.
Someone
in the midst of the landscape
brandishes a heater
while I, having just a handkerchief
for clothing,
cover my head with it to keep from dying.
Here everyone knows
that lakes start freezing at their edges
and man in his heart,
that light
rises from the void
and all we have left
is a discredited sun
in an indifferent sky,
darkness already wrapping
our bones, with death itself
seeming to serve as our skin,
like on a bat.
© 2008, Richard Zenith
From: Vulcão
From: Vulcão
Darkness
Darkness is beginningto dissolve our body,
like a bloody snow
falling from the sky
or like a stone that, falling
into a lake, opens it into
successive circles, some already
outside the water, right here in life.
Someone
in the midst of the landscape
brandishes a heater
while I, having just a handkerchief
for clothing,
cover my head with it to keep from dying.
Here everyone knows
that lakes start freezing at their edges
and man in his heart,
that light
rises from the void
and all we have left
is a discredited sun
in an indifferent sky,
darkness already wrapping
our bones, with death itself
seeming to serve as our skin,
like on a bat.
© 2008, Richard Zenith
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