Vida e Existência

Não me ensines os caminhos
quero rasgá-los no meu peito
quando aprendemos sozinhos
parece que há mais direito

A ter inteira a tua alma
roubar-ta quando não esperas
e abraçar-te no colo sem saberes
como se faz a um amor que se perdera

Assim andarás comigo
quando de ti não souberes
e não te ensino os caminhos
para tomares os rumos que quiseres

Tenho a alma desvastada
de um sentimento sem fundo
e sou como um saltimbanco louco
que por quase, quase nada
se entrega ao mundo

Hoje a vida passa como um barco
Ilha de náufragos esquecida no mar
E o tempo é nada haver sentido tudo
O que por nada ser nos faz mudar
Hoje o mundo é o revés de um sonho
Que um sono mais profundo fez esquecer
Para quê querer das coisas a razão
Se quase nada tem razão de ser
O luar traz silêncios e disparos
E carícias fugazes e horrores
E morre-se num canto de um poema
Por isso e outras coisa dão-se flores
Bebe-se vinho e dorme-se ao relento
E liberta-se o grito que vier
Pra se ouvir longe e perto, e dentro
Conserva-se o silêncio, o que se puder
E alguma vez ainda se acredita
Na força da montanha céu adentro
E na canção do mar por ser bonita
E nas asas que inventa, cores ao vento
Mas hoje voam pássaros sem asas
Na terra desabrocham cores de guerra
E hoje as flores rolam pelo chão
Como se fossem pedras

Hoje a vida passa como um barco
Ilha de náufragos esquecida no mar
E o tempo é nada haver sentido tudo
O que por nada ser nos faz mudar
Hoje o mundo é o revés de um sonho
Que um sono mais profundo fez esquecer
Para quê querer das coisas a razão
Se quase nada tem razão de ser
O luar traz silêncios e disparos
E carícias fugazes e horrores
E morre-se num canto de um poema
Por isso e outras coisa dão-se flores
Bebe-se vinho e dorme-se ao relento
E liberta-se o grito que vier
Pra se ouvir longe e perto, e dentro
Conserva-se o silêncio, o que se puder
E alguma vez ainda se acredita
Na força da montanha céu adentro
E na canção do mar por ser bonita
E nas asas que inventa, cores ao vento
Mas hoje voam pássaros sem asas
Na terra desabrocham cores de guerra
E hoje as flores rolam pelo chão
Como se fossem pedras

Do seu fastígio azul, serena e fria,
Desce a noite outonal, augusta e bela;
Vésper fulgura além... Vésper! Só ela
Todo o céu, doce e pálida, alumia.

De um mosteiro na cúpula irradia
Com frouxa luz... Em sua humilde cela,
Contemplativa e lânguida à janela,
Triste freira, fitando-a, se extasia...

Vésper, envolta em deslumbrante alvura,
Ó nuvens, que ides pelo espaço afora!
A quem tão longo olhar volve da altura?

Que olhar, irmão do seu, procura agora
Na terra o astro do amor? O olhar procura
Da solitária freira que o namora.


Publicado no livro Aleluias (1891).

In: CORREIA, Raimundo. Poesias completas. Org. pref. e notas Múcio Leão. São Paulo: Ed. Nacional, 1948. v.1, p.97

Esperei-te no fim de um dia cansado
À mesa do café de sempre
O fumo, o calor e o mesmo quadro
Na parede já azul poente
Alguém me sorri do balcão corrido
Alguém que me faz sentir
Que há lugares que são pequenos abrigos
Para onde podemos sempre fugir

Da tarde tão fria há gente que chega
E toma um café apressado
E há os que entram com o olhar perdido
À procura do futuro no avesso do passado

O tempo endurece qualquer armadura
E às vezes custa arrancar
Muralhas erguidas à volta do peito
Que não deixam partir nem deixam chegar

O escuro lá fora incendeia as estrelas
As janelas, os olhares, as ruas
Cá dentro o calor conforta os sentidos
Num pequeno reflexo da lua

Enquanto espero percorro os sinais
Do que fomos que ainda resiste
As marcas deixadas na alma e na pele
Do que foi feliz e do que foi triste

Sabe bem voltar-te a ver
Sabe bem quando estás ao meu lado
Quando o tempo me esvazia
Sabe bem o teu braço fechado

E tudo o que me dás quando és
Guarida junto à tempestade
Os rumos para caminhar
No lado quente da saudade

Vai caminhando desamarrado
Dos nós e laços que o mundo faz
Vai abraçando desenleado
De outros abraços que a vida dá

Vai-te encontrando na água e no lume
Na terra quente até perder
O medo, o medo levanta muros
E ergue bandeiras pra nos deter

Não percas tempo
O tempo corre
Só quando doi é devagar
E dá-te ao vento
Como um veleiro
Solto no mais alto mar

Liberta o grito que trazes dentro
E a coragem e o amor
Mesmo que seja só um momento
Mesmo que traga alguma dor
Só isso faz brilhar o lume
Que hás-de levar até ao fim
E esse lume já ninguém pode
Nunca apagar dentro de ti

Não percas tempo
O tempo corre
Só quando doi é devagar
E dá-te ao vento
Como um veleiro
Solto no mais alto mar

The noblest name in Allegory's page,
The hand that traced inexorable rage;
A pleasing moralist whose page refined,
Displays the deepest knowledge of the mind;
A tender poet of a foreign tongue,
(Indited in the language that he sung.)
A bard of brilliant but unlicensed page
At once the shame and glory of our age,
The prince of harmony and stirling sense,
The ancient dramatist of eminence,
The bard that paints imagination's powers,
And him whose song revives departed hours,
Once more an ancient tragic bard recall,
In boldness of design surpassing all.
These names when rightly read, a name [make] known
Which gathers all their glories in its own.


1833

geme o restolho triste e solitário
a embalar a noite escura e fria
e a perder-se no olhar da ventania
que canta ao tom do velho campanário

geme o restolho preso de saudade
esquecido, enlouquecido, dominado
escondido entre as sombras do montado
sem forças e sem côr e sem vontade

geme o restolho a transpirar de chuva
nos campos que a ceifeira mutilou
dormindo em velhos sonhos que sonhou
na alma a mágoa enorme, intensa, aguda

mas é preciso morrer e nascer de novo
semear no pó e voltar a colher
há que ser trigo, depois ser restolho
há que penar pra aprender a viver

e a vida não é existir sem mais nada
a vida não é dia sim dia não
é feita em cada entrega alucinada
pra receber daquilo que aumenta o coração

geme o restolho a transpirar de chuva
nos campos que a ceifeira mutilou
dormindo em velhos sonhos que sonhou
na alma a mágoa é enorme, intensa, aguda

mas é preciso morrer e nascer de novo
semear no pó e voltar a colher
há que ser trigo, depois ser restolho
há que penar pra aprender a viver

e a vida não é existir sem mais nada
a vida não é dia sim dia não
é feita em cada entrega alucinada
pra receber daquilo que aumenta o coração

geme o restolho triste e solitário
a embalar a noite escura e fria
e a perder-se no olhar da ventania
que canta ao tom do velho campanário

geme o restolho preso de saudade
esquecido, enlouquecido, dominado
escondido entre as sombras do montado
sem forças e sem côr e sem vontade

geme o restolho a transpirar de chuva
nos campos que a ceifeira mutilou
dormindo em velhos sonhos que sonhou
na alma a mágoa enorme, intensa, aguda

mas é preciso morrer e nascer de novo
semear no pó e voltar a colher
há que ser trigo, depois ser restolho
há que penar pra aprender a viver

e a vida não é existir sem mais nada
a vida não é dia sim dia não
é feita em cada entrega alucinada
pra receber daquilo que aumenta o coração

geme o restolho a transpirar de chuva
nos campos que a ceifeira mutilou
dormindo em velhos sonhos que sonhou
na alma a mágoa é enorme, intensa, aguda

mas é preciso morrer e nascer de novo
semear no pó e voltar a colher
há que ser trigo, depois ser restolho
há que penar pra aprender a viver

e a vida não é existir sem mais nada
a vida não é dia sim dia não
é feita em cada entrega alucinada
pra receber daquilo que aumenta o coração

I saw thee on thy bridal day —
When a burning blush came o'er thee,
Though happiness around thee lay,
The world all love before thee:

And in thine eye a kindling light
(Whatever it might be)
Was all on Earth my aching sight
Of Loveliness could see.

That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame —
As such it well may pass —
Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame
In the breast of him, alas!

Who saw thee on that bridal day,
When that deep blush would come o'er thee,
Though happiness around thee lay,
The world all love before thee.


1845

Eis que nasce completo
e, ao morrer, morre germe,
o desejo, analfabeto,
de saber como reger-me,
ah, saber como me ajeito
para que eu seja quem fui,
eis o que nasce perfeito
e, ao crescer, diminui.

Eis que nasce completo
e, ao morrer, morre germe,
o desejo, analfabeto,
de saber como reger-me,
ah, saber como me ajeito
para que eu seja quem fui,
eis o que nasce perfeito
e, ao crescer, diminui.

Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!


1827

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied—
"If you seek for Eldorado!"


1849

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied—
"If you seek for Eldorado!"


1849

The happiest day — the happiest hour
My sear'd and blighted heart hath known,
The highest hope of pride, and power,
I feel hath flown.

Of power! said I? yes! such I ween
But they have vanish'd long alas!
The visions of my youth have been —
But let them pass.

And, pride, what have I now with thee?
Another brow may ev'n inherit
The venom thou hast pour'd on me —
Be still my spirit.

The happiest day — the happiest hour
Mine eyes shall see — have ever seen
The brightest glance of pride and power
I feel — have been:

But were that hope of pride and power
Now offer'd, with the pain
Ev'n then I felt — that brightest hour
I would not live again:

For on its wing wall dark alloy
And as it flutter'd — fell
An essence — powerful to destroy
A soul that knew it well.


1827

The happiest day — the happiest hour
My sear'd and blighted heart hath known,
The highest hope of pride, and power,
I feel hath flown.

Of power! said I? yes! such I ween
But they have vanish'd long alas!
The visions of my youth have been —
But let them pass.

And, pride, what have I now with thee?
Another brow may ev'n inherit
The venom thou hast pour'd on me —
Be still my spirit.

The happiest day — the happiest hour
Mine eyes shall see — have ever seen
The brightest glance of pride and power
I feel — have been:

But were that hope of pride and power
Now offer'd, with the pain
Ev'n then I felt — that brightest hour
I would not live again:

For on its wing wall dark alloy
And as it flutter'd — fell
An essence — powerful to destroy
A soul that knew it well.


1827

In youth's spring, it was my lot
To haunt of the wide earth a spot
The which I could not love the less;
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound.
And the tall pines that tower'd around.
But when the night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot — as upon all,
And the wind would pass me by
In its stilly melody,
My infant spirit would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.
Yet that terror was not fright —
But a tremulous delight,
And a feeling undefin'd,
Springing from a darken'd mind.
Death was in that poison'd wave
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his dark imagining;
Whose wild'ring thought could even make
An Eden of that dim lake.


1827

In youth's spring, it was my lot
To haunt of the wide earth a spot
The which I could not love the less;
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound.
And the tall pines that tower'd around.
But when the night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot — as upon all,
And the wind would pass me by
In its stilly melody,
My infant spirit would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.
Yet that terror was not fright —
But a tremulous delight,
And a feeling undefin'd,
Springing from a darken'd mind.
Death was in that poison'd wave
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his dark imagining;
Whose wild'ring thought could even make
An Eden of that dim lake.


1827

O! I care not that my earthly lot
Hath little of Earth in it,
That years of love have been forgot
In the fever of a minute:

I heed not that the desolate
Are happier, sweet, than I,
But that you meddle with my fate
Who am a passer by.

It is not that my founts of bliss
Are gushing — strange! with tears—
Or that the thrill of a single kiss
Hath palsied many years—

'Tis not that the flowers of twenty springs
Which have wither'd as they rose
Lie dead on my heart-strings
With the weight of an age of snows.

Not that the grass— O! may it thrive!
On my grave is growing or grown—
But that, while I am dead yet alive
I cannot be, lady, alone.


1828

O! I care not that my earthly lot
Hath little of Earth in it,
That years of love have been forgot
In the fever of a minute:

I heed not that the desolate
Are happier, sweet, than I,
But that you meddle with my fate
Who am a passer by.

It is not that my founts of bliss
Are gushing — strange! with tears—
Or that the thrill of a single kiss
Hath palsied many years—

'Tis not that the flowers of twenty springs
Which have wither'd as they rose
Lie dead on my heart-strings
With the weight of an age of snows.

Not that the grass— O! may it thrive!
On my grave is growing or grown—
But that, while I am dead yet alive
I cannot be, lady, alone.


1828

Lone ampitheatre ! Grey Coliseum !
Type of the antique Rome ! Rich reliquary
Of lofty contemplation left to Time
By buried centuries of pomp and power !
At length, at length — after so many days
Of weary pilgrimage, and burning thirst,
(Thirst for the springs of love [lore] that in thee lie,)
I kneel, an altered, and an humble man,
Amid thy shadows, and so drink within
My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory.

Vastness ! and Age ! and Memories of Eld !
Silence and Desolation! and dim Night!
Gaunt vestibules! and phantom-peopled aisles !
I feel ye now: I feel ye in your strength!
O spells more sure then [than] e'er Judæan king
Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane !
O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee
Ever drew down from out the quiet stars !

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls :
Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,
A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat:
Here, where the dames of Rome their yellow hair
Wav'd to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle :
Here, where on ivory couch the Cæsar sate,
On bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder :

Here, where on golden throne the monarch loll'd,
Glides spectre-like unto his marble home,
Lit by the wan light of the horned moon,
The swift and silent lizard of the stones.

These crumbling walls; these tottering arcades ;
These mouldering plinths; these sad, and blacken'd shafts ;
These vague entablatures; this broken frieze ;
These shattered cornices; this wreck; this ruin ;
These stones, alas! — these grey stones — are they all ;
All of the great and the colossal left
By the corrosive hours to Fate and me ?

"Not all," — the echoes answer me; "not all :
Prophetic sounds, and loud, arise forever
From us, and from all ruin, unto the wise,
As in old days from Memnon to the sun.
We rule the hearts of mightiest men: — we rule
With a despotic sway all giant minds.
We are not desolate — we pallid stones ;
Not all our power is gone; not all our Fame ;
Not all the magic of our high renown ;
Not all the wonder that encircles us ;
Not all the mysteries that in us lie;
Not all the memories that hang upon,
And cling around about us now and ever,
And clothe us in a robe of more than glory."


1833

Lone ampitheatre ! Grey Coliseum !
Type of the antique Rome ! Rich reliquary
Of lofty contemplation left to Time
By buried centuries of pomp and power !
At length, at length — after so many days
Of weary pilgrimage, and burning thirst,
(Thirst for the springs of love [lore] that in thee lie,)
I kneel, an altered, and an humble man,
Amid thy shadows, and so drink within
My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory.

Vastness ! and Age ! and Memories of Eld !
Silence and Desolation! and dim Night!
Gaunt vestibules! and phantom-peopled aisles !
I feel ye now: I feel ye in your strength!
O spells more sure then [than] e'er Judæan king
Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane !
O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee
Ever drew down from out the quiet stars !

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls :
Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,
A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat:
Here, where the dames of Rome their yellow hair
Wav'd to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle :
Here, where on ivory couch the Cæsar sate,
On bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder :

Here, where on golden throne the monarch loll'd,
Glides spectre-like unto his marble home,
Lit by the wan light of the horned moon,
The swift and silent lizard of the stones.

These crumbling walls; these tottering arcades ;
These mouldering plinths; these sad, and blacken'd shafts ;
These vague entablatures; this broken frieze ;
These shattered cornices; this wreck; this ruin ;
These stones, alas! — these grey stones — are they all ;
All of the great and the colossal left
By the corrosive hours to Fate and me ?

"Not all," — the echoes answer me; "not all :
Prophetic sounds, and loud, arise forever
From us, and from all ruin, unto the wise,
As in old days from Memnon to the sun.
We rule the hearts of mightiest men: — we rule
With a despotic sway all giant minds.
We are not desolate — we pallid stones ;
Not all our power is gone; not all our Fame ;
Not all the magic of our high renown ;
Not all the wonder that encircles us ;
Not all the mysteries that in us lie;
Not all the memories that hang upon,
And cling around about us now and ever,
And clothe us in a robe of more than glory."


1833

I saw thee once— once only — years ago:
I must not say how many — but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,
There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,
Upon the upturned faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe —
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death —
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.

Clad all in white, upon a violet bank
I saw thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,
And on thine own, upturn'd— alas, in sorrow!

Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight—
Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate,
To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footstep stirred: the hated world an slept,
Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven!— oh, God!
How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)
Save only thee and me. I paused— I looked—
And in an instant all things disappeared.
(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)

The pearly lustre of the moon went out:
The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees,
Were seen no more: the very roses' odors
Died in the arms of the adoring airs.
All— all expired save thee— save less than thou:
Save only the divine light in thine eyes—
Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
I saw but them— they were the world to me!
I saw but them— saw only them for hours,
Saw only them until the moon went down.
What wild heart-histories seemed to he enwritten

Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres!
How dark a woe, yet how sublime a hope!
How silently serene a sea of pride!
How daring an ambition; yet how deep—
How fathomless a capacity for love!

But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;
And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained;
They would not go— they never yet have gone;
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since;
They follow me— they lead me through the years.
They are my ministers — yet I their slave.
Their office is to illumine and enkindle —
My duty, to be saved by their bright light,
And purified in their electric fire,
And sanctified in their elysian fire.
They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),
And are far up in Heaven — the stars I kneel to
In the sad, silent watches of my night;
While even in the meridian glare of day
I see them still — two sweetly scintillant
Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!


1850