Poem
Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos
de profundis amamus
Yesterdayat eleven
you smoked
a cigarette
I found you
sitting there
we stayed and missed
all your streetcars
mine
by their very nature
were missed
We walked
five miles
no one saw us go by
except
of course
the doormen
it’s in the nature of things
to be seen
by doormen
Look
as only you know how
at the street manners
The Public
the crease in your trousers
is shivering
and four thousand people are interested
in this
It’s all right hug me
with the perfectly blue circles
of your eyes
it will be this way for a long time
many centuries will arrive before we do
but don’t worry
don’t worry
too much
we have only to do
with the present
perfect
pirates with the
wonder-struck wondrous unique
eyes of an impassible cat
our strange verb
has no past or future
© Translation: 2005, Richard Zenith
de profundis amamus
de profundis amamus
Ontem às onzefumaste
um cigarro
encontrei-te
sentado
ficámos para perder
todos os teus eléctricos
os meus
estavam perdidos
por natureza própria
Andámos
dez quilómetros
a pé
ninguém nos viu passar
excepto
claro
os porteiros
é da natureza das coisas
ser-se visto
pelos porteiros
Olha
como só tu sabes olhar
a rua os costumes
O Público
o vinco das tuas calças
está cheio de frio
é há quatro mil pessoas interessadas
nisso
Não faz mal abracem-me
os teus olhos
de extremo a extremo azuis
vai ser assim durante muito tempo
decorrerão muitos séculos antes de nós
mas não te importes
muito
nós só temos a ver
com o presente
perfeito
corsários de olhos de gato intransponível
maravilhados maravilhosos únicos
nem pretérito nem futuro tem
o estranho verbo nosso
© 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
de profundis amamus
Yesterdayat eleven
you smoked
a cigarette
I found you
sitting there
we stayed and missed
all your streetcars
mine
by their very nature
were missed
We walked
five miles
no one saw us go by
except
of course
the doormen
it’s in the nature of things
to be seen
by doormen
Look
as only you know how
at the street manners
The Public
the crease in your trousers
is shivering
and four thousand people are interested
in this
It’s all right hug me
with the perfectly blue circles
of your eyes
it will be this way for a long time
many centuries will arrive before we do
but don’t worry
don’t worry
too much
we have only to do
with the present
perfect
pirates with the
wonder-struck wondrous unique
eyes of an impassible cat
our strange verb
has no past or future
© 2005, Richard Zenith
From: Pena Capital
From: Pena Capital
de profundis amamus
Yesterdayat eleven
you smoked
a cigarette
I found you
sitting there
we stayed and missed
all your streetcars
mine
by their very nature
were missed
We walked
five miles
no one saw us go by
except
of course
the doormen
it’s in the nature of things
to be seen
by doormen
Look
as only you know how
at the street manners
The Public
the crease in your trousers
is shivering
and four thousand people are interested
in this
It’s all right hug me
with the perfectly blue circles
of your eyes
it will be this way for a long time
many centuries will arrive before we do
but don’t worry
don’t worry
too much
we have only to do
with the present
perfect
pirates with the
wonder-struck wondrous unique
eyes of an impassible cat
our strange verb
has no past or future
© 2005, Richard Zenith
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