Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Luís Miguel Nava

Darkness

Darkness is beginning
to 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.

As trevas

As trevas

Começam-nos as trevas a romper
a 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.
Close

Darkness

Darkness is beginning
to 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.

Darkness

Darkness is beginning
to 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.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère