Poem
Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos
being beauteous
My English friend who entered the bedroom and drew the curtains with a single swipeknew what he was drawing
I say he said you’ll say it was shocking
it’s that we were strangers strangers and foreigners
and so close to each other in that house
but I see more widely more darkly inside the body
and I’ve discovered that light is something for the rich
those who spend their lives gazing at the sun
cultivating bees in their sex organs lyres in their heads
and no sooner does night touch the white strip of beach
than they run and phone the police
And it’s not so much the diamonds and conveniences and housemaids
I mean the rich in spirit
rich in experience
rich in knowing how
semen flows out one side and feces out the other
and in the sweet in-betweens
there’s urine and libraries train stations the theater
all that has been loved
and stored in the corner of an eye imploring more light for it to have been true
My English friend remembered only
simple beginning gestures
and he drew the curtains and created
beyond the feeble kiss we can kiss
the endless voyage of no return
© Translation: 1998, Richard Zenith
being beauteous
being beauteous
O meu amigo inglês que entrou no quarto da cama e correu de um só gesto todas as cortinassabia o que corria
digo disse direis era vergonha
era sermos estranhos mais do que isso: estrangeiros
e tão perto um do outro naquela casa
mas eu vejo maior mais escuro dentro do corpo
e descobri que a luz é coisa de ricos
gente que passa a vida a olhar para o sol
cultivar abelhas no sexo liras na cabeça
e mal a noite tinge a faixa branca da praia
vai a correr telefonar para a polícia
E não bem pelas jóias de diamante os serviços de bolso e as criadas
digo ricos de espírito
ricos de experiência
ricos de saber bem como decorre
para um lado o sémen para o outro a caca
e nos doces intervalares
a urina as bibliotecas as estações o teatro
tudo o que já amado
e arrecadado no canto do olho a implorar mais luz para ter sido verdade
O meu amigo inglês não se lembrava
senão dos gestos simples do começo
e corria as cortinas e criava
para além do beijo flébil que podemos
a viagem sem fim e sem regresso
© 1957, Mário Cesariny
From: Pena Capital
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon
From: Pena Capital
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon
Poems
Poems of Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos
Close
being beauteous
My English friend who entered the bedroom and drew the curtains with a single swipeknew what he was drawing
I say he said you’ll say it was shocking
it’s that we were strangers strangers and foreigners
and so close to each other in that house
but I see more widely more darkly inside the body
and I’ve discovered that light is something for the rich
those who spend their lives gazing at the sun
cultivating bees in their sex organs lyres in their heads
and no sooner does night touch the white strip of beach
than they run and phone the police
And it’s not so much the diamonds and conveniences and housemaids
I mean the rich in spirit
rich in experience
rich in knowing how
semen flows out one side and feces out the other
and in the sweet in-betweens
there’s urine and libraries train stations the theater
all that has been loved
and stored in the corner of an eye imploring more light for it to have been true
My English friend remembered only
simple beginning gestures
and he drew the curtains and created
beyond the feeble kiss we can kiss
the endless voyage of no return
© 1998, Richard Zenith
From: Pena Capital
From: Pena Capital
being beauteous
My English friend who entered the bedroom and drew the curtains with a single swipeknew what he was drawing
I say he said you’ll say it was shocking
it’s that we were strangers strangers and foreigners
and so close to each other in that house
but I see more widely more darkly inside the body
and I’ve discovered that light is something for the rich
those who spend their lives gazing at the sun
cultivating bees in their sex organs lyres in their heads
and no sooner does night touch the white strip of beach
than they run and phone the police
And it’s not so much the diamonds and conveniences and housemaids
I mean the rich in spirit
rich in experience
rich in knowing how
semen flows out one side and feces out the other
and in the sweet in-betweens
there’s urine and libraries train stations the theater
all that has been loved
and stored in the corner of an eye imploring more light for it to have been true
My English friend remembered only
simple beginning gestures
and he drew the curtains and created
beyond the feeble kiss we can kiss
the endless voyage of no return
© 1998, Richard Zenith
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