Poem
Fernando Pessoa
The Keeper of Sheep XXXIX
The mystery of things – where is it?Why doesn\'t it come out
To show us at least that it\'s mystery?
What do the river and the tree know about it?
And what do I, who am no more than they, know about it?
Whenever I look at things and think about what people think of them,
I laugh like a brook cleanly plashing against a rock.
For the only hidden meaning of things
Is that they have no hidden meaning.
It\'s the strangest thing of all,
Stranger than all poets\' dreams
And all philosophers\' thoughts,
That things are really what they seem to be
And there\'s nothing to understand.
Yes, this is what my senses learned on their own:
Things have no meaning: they exist.
Things are the only hidden meaning of things.
© Translation: 1998, Richard Zenith
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: Grove Press, New York, 1998
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: Grove Press, New York, 1998
O Guardador de Rebanhos XXXIX
O Guardador de Rebanhos XXXIX
O mistério das cousas, onde está ele?Onde está ele que não aparece
Pelo menos a mostrar-nos que é mistério?
Que sabe o rio disso e que sabe a árvore?
E eu, que não sou mais do que eles, que sei disso?
Sempre que olho para as cousas e penso no que os homens
pensam delas,
Rio como um regato que soa fresco numa pedra.
Porque o único sentido oculto das cousas
É elas não terem sentido oculto nenhum.
É mais estranho do que todas as estranhezas
E do que os sonhos de todos os poetas
E os pensamentos de todos os filósofos,
Que as cousas sejam realmente o que parecem ser
E não haja nada que compreender.
Sim, eis o que os meus sentidos aprenderam sozinhos: –
As cousas não têm significação: têm existência.
As cousas são o único sentido oculto das cousas.
© 1915, Alberto Caeiro (Fernando Pessoa)
From: Poesia
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon
From: Poesia
Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon
Poems
Poems of Fernando Pessoa
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The Keeper of Sheep XXXIX
The mystery of things – where is it?Why doesn\'t it come out
To show us at least that it\'s mystery?
What do the river and the tree know about it?
And what do I, who am no more than they, know about it?
Whenever I look at things and think about what people think of them,
I laugh like a brook cleanly plashing against a rock.
For the only hidden meaning of things
Is that they have no hidden meaning.
It\'s the strangest thing of all,
Stranger than all poets\' dreams
And all philosophers\' thoughts,
That things are really what they seem to be
And there\'s nothing to understand.
Yes, this is what my senses learned on their own:
Things have no meaning: they exist.
Things are the only hidden meaning of things.
© 1998, Richard Zenith
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: 1998, Grove Press, New York
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: 1998, Grove Press, New York
The Keeper of Sheep XXXIX
The mystery of things – where is it?Why doesn\'t it come out
To show us at least that it\'s mystery?
What do the river and the tree know about it?
And what do I, who am no more than they, know about it?
Whenever I look at things and think about what people think of them,
I laugh like a brook cleanly plashing against a rock.
For the only hidden meaning of things
Is that they have no hidden meaning.
It\'s the strangest thing of all,
Stranger than all poets\' dreams
And all philosophers\' thoughts,
That things are really what they seem to be
And there\'s nothing to understand.
Yes, this is what my senses learned on their own:
Things have no meaning: they exist.
Things are the only hidden meaning of things.
© 1998, Richard Zenith
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: 1998, Grove Press, New York
From: Fernando Pessoa & Co. – Selected Poems
Publisher: 1998, Grove Press, New York
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