Poem
Carlos de Oliveira
Sonnet
I’m accused of being bitter, inclinedto despair, as if my poetry’s pain
weren’t your flesh, O scattered men,
and my sorrow your sorrow, O mind.
Beauty? One day I will sing of it,
when the light I don’t disbelieve in falls
on the dark that hems us in like a wall
and you reach, O joy, your kingdom.
In the meantime let me speak:
let sadness be the revenge I drink
until the wall cracks and the night bursts.
My voice of death is the voice of struggle:
those who, trusting, delve into their suffering,
have a hope whose glory is of higher worth.
© Translation: 1997, Richard Zenith
Soneto
Soneto
Acusam-me de mágoa e desalento,como se toda a pena dos meus versos
não fosse carne vossa, homens dispersos,
e a minha dor a tua, pensamento.
Hei-de cantar-vos a beleza um dia,
quando a luz que não nego abrir o escuro
da noite que nos cerca como um muro,
e chegares a teus reinos, alegria.
Entretanto, deixai que me não cale:
até que o muro fenda, a treva estale,
seja a tristeza o vinho da vingança.
A minha voz de morte é a voz da luta:
se quem confia a própria dor perscruta,
maior glória tem em ter esperança.
© 1945, Carlos de Oliveira
From: Trabalho Poético
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisboa
From: Trabalho Poético
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisboa
Poems
Poems of Carlos de Oliveira
Close
Sonnet
I’m accused of being bitter, inclinedto despair, as if my poetry’s pain
weren’t your flesh, O scattered men,
and my sorrow your sorrow, O mind.
Beauty? One day I will sing of it,
when the light I don’t disbelieve in falls
on the dark that hems us in like a wall
and you reach, O joy, your kingdom.
In the meantime let me speak:
let sadness be the revenge I drink
until the wall cracks and the night bursts.
My voice of death is the voice of struggle:
those who, trusting, delve into their suffering,
have a hope whose glory is of higher worth.
© 1997, Richard Zenith
From: Trabalho Poético
From: Trabalho Poético
Sonnet
I’m accused of being bitter, inclinedto despair, as if my poetry’s pain
weren’t your flesh, O scattered men,
and my sorrow your sorrow, O mind.
Beauty? One day I will sing of it,
when the light I don’t disbelieve in falls
on the dark that hems us in like a wall
and you reach, O joy, your kingdom.
In the meantime let me speak:
let sadness be the revenge I drink
until the wall cracks and the night bursts.
My voice of death is the voice of struggle:
those who, trusting, delve into their suffering,
have a hope whose glory is of higher worth.
© 1997, Richard Zenith
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