Poem
Camilo Pessanha
PHONOGRAPH
A dead comic performs his set.The audience roars with laughter
At his stale act, which fills the air
With an odor of dust and crypt.
The record changes to a barcarolle:
Lilies, the lilting river, the moon.
Beneath Her body floats my dream—
A swoon of petals on a swamp!
Again it changes: chirrups, bitter
Notes of jonquil — a golden
Bugle sounding the reveille…
Silence. The cornets’ gentle music
Falters, masked and soaked with dew.
Spring. Morning. A rush of violets!
© Translation: 2020, Adam Mahler
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2020
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2020
FONOGRAFO
FONOGRAFO
Vae declamando um cómico defunto,Uma plateia ri, perdidamente,
Do bom jarreta… E ha um odor no ambiente
A cripta e a pó,—do anacrónico assunto.
Muda o registo, eis uma barcarola:
Lírios, lírios, águas do rio, a lua…
Ante o Seu corpo o sonho meu flutua
Sobre um paul, — extática corola.
Muda outra vez: gorjeios, estribilhos
D'um clarim de oiro — o cheiro de junquilhos,
Vivido e agro! — tocando a alvorada…
Cessou. E, amorosa, a alma das cornetas
Quebrou-se agora orvalhada e velada.
Primavera. Manhã. Que eflúvio de violetas!
From: Clepsydra
Publisher: Relógio d\'Água, Lisboa
Publisher: Relógio d\'Água, Lisboa
Poems
Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Close
PHONOGRAPH
A dead comic performs his set.The audience roars with laughter
At his stale act, which fills the air
With an odor of dust and crypt.
The record changes to a barcarolle:
Lilies, the lilting river, the moon.
Beneath Her body floats my dream—
A swoon of petals on a swamp!
Again it changes: chirrups, bitter
Notes of jonquil — a golden
Bugle sounding the reveille…
Silence. The cornets’ gentle music
Falters, masked and soaked with dew.
Spring. Morning. A rush of violets!
© 2020, Adam Mahler
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: 2020, Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: 2020, Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts
PHONOGRAPH
A dead comic performs his set.The audience roars with laughter
At his stale act, which fills the air
With an odor of dust and crypt.
The record changes to a barcarolle:
Lilies, the lilting river, the moon.
Beneath Her body floats my dream—
A swoon of petals on a swamp!
Again it changes: chirrups, bitter
Notes of jonquil — a golden
Bugle sounding the reveille…
Silence. The cornets’ gentle music
Falters, masked and soaked with dew.
Spring. Morning. A rush of violets!
© 2020, Adam Mahler
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: 2020, Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts
From: Clepsydra: The Complete Poems of Camilo Pessanha
Publisher: 2020, Tagus, Amherst, Massachusetts
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