Poem

José Tolentino Mendonça

Side by side

CALLE PRINCIPE 25

Without warning we lose
the vastness of the fields
singular enigmas
the clarity we swear
we’ll preserve

but it takes us years
to forget someone
who merely looked at us

CALLE PRINCIPE 25

Perdemos repentinamente
a profundidade dos campos
os enigmas singulares
a claridade que juramos
conservar

mas levamos anos
a esquecer alguém
que apenas nos olhou

José Tolentino Mendonça

(Portugal, 1965)

Like Herberto Helder, but 35 years later, José Tolentino Mendonça was born in Madeira. The very first poem of his first published book is titled ‘The Childhood of Herberto Helder’, and the homage suggests that the senior poet has managed, in his verses, to conserve a child’s direct understanding. The poem is also a homage to their common homeland, with its first verse affirming: “In the beginni...

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Poems of José Tolentino Mendonça

CALLE PRINCIPE 25

Without warning we lose
the vastness of the fields
singular enigmas
the clarity we swear
we’ll preserve

but it takes us years
to forget someone
who merely looked at us

CALLE PRINCIPE 25

Without warning we lose
the vastness of the fields
singular enigmas
the clarity we swear
we’ll preserve

but it takes us years
to forget someone
who merely looked at us