Alma

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

Fair river! in thy bright, clear flow
Of crystal, wandering water,
Thou art an emblem of the glow
Of beauty- the unhidden heart-
The playful maziness of art
In old Alberto's daughter;

But when within thy wave she looks-
Which glistens then, and trembles—
Why, then, the prettiest of brooks
Her worshipper resembles;
For in his heart, as in thy stream,
Her image deeply lies—
His heart which trembles at the beam
Of her soul-searching eyes.


1829

Fair maiden, let thy generous heart
From its present pathway part not!
Being every thing which now thou art,
Be nothing which thou art not.
So with the world thy gentle ways,
Thy unassuming beauty,
Thy truth — shall be a theme of praise,
Forever — and love a duty.


1839

À noite
No silêncio da rua
Passavam ciganos cantando
E a cidade chamava
Nas luzes perdidas do rio
No teu carro
Andámos por aí
Bebemos cerveja e falámos
Entre sombras de prédios calados
E sonhos de homens cansados
E algo em mim sobrevive
Desesperadamente
Há escuro
Na inquietação do vento
Nas luzes esquecidas do rio
E tentam roubar-nos os dias
Tentam calar-nos as forças
Mas algo em mim sobrevive
Desesperadamente
Quero que por fim nos traga o sol
Andando pelo rio, perdidos na claridade
Hoje só quero deixar viver este momento
Hoje só quero caminhar pela cidade
No teu carro
Cruzámos as fronteiras
Bebemos cervejas e sonhámos
De tudo o que há sem regresso
Quem guardará o passado?
Entrego-me
Em passos sem destino
Até onde a fúria se acalma
vou procurando a gente
Que à noite na rua cantava
E algo em mim sobrevive
Desesperadamente
Quero que por fim nos traga o sol
Andando pelo rio perdidos na claridade
Hoje só quero deixar viver este momento
Hoje só quero caminhar pela cidade

I dwelt alone
In a world of moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride—
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.

Ah, less— less bright
The stars of the night
Than the eyes of the radiant girl!
That the vapor can make
With the moon-tints of purple and pearl,
Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl—
Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie's most humble and careless curl.

Now Doubt- now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarte within the sky,
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye—
While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.


1850

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

Lo! 'tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.

Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly --
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Wo!

That motley drama! --oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased forever more,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness and more of Sin
And Horror the soul of the plot.

But see, amid the mimic rout,
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes! --it writhes! --with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And the seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.

Out --out are the lights --out all!
And over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
And the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.


1843

Dancei no fio
de uma espada
num poço aberto
em sol vermelho
há tanto tempo
não sei de ti
toquei na chama
mas era um espelho

Soltei a dor
como um segredo
que se guardou
e não se deu
lambi a ferida
de te esperar
mas este sangue
sabia a mar

Há uma ilha
dentro do deserto
há um caminho
numa vaga
há espaço para correr
sob o sol
há um barco vazio
que me arrasta

Andei num fio
de navalha
fui acrobata
e enlouqueci
abri uma fenda
e foi-se o mar
mas este mar
não chega a ti

Há uma ilha
dentro do deserto
há um caminho
numa vaga
há espaço para correr
sob o sol
há um barco vazio
que me arrasta

És uma ilha
dentro do deserto
és um caminho
numa vaga
És espaço pra correr
sob o sol
és um barco vazio
que me arrasta

és um barco vazio
que me arrasta

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

Would'st thou be loved? — then let thy heart
From its present pathway part not —
Be every thing which now thou art
And nothing which thou art not:

So with the world thy gentle ways,
And unassuming beauty
Shall be a constant theme of praise,
And love — a duty.

Thou wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine-
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.

Ah, dream too bright to last!
Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the Future cries,
"Onward!"- but o'er the Past
(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!

For, alas! alas! with me
The light of life is o'er!
"No more-- no more-- no more,"
(Such language holds the solemn sea
To the sands upon the shore)
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree
Or the stricken eagle soar!

And all my hours are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams-
In what ethereal dances,
By what Italian streams.

Alas! for that accursed time
They bore thee o'er the billow,
From Love to titled age and crime,
And an unholy pillow!--
From me, and from our misty clime,
Where weeps the silver willow!


1834

Once it smiled a silent dell
Where the people did not dwell;
They had gone unto the wars,
Trusting to the mild-eyed stars,
Nightly, from their azure towers,
To keep watch above the flowers,
In the midst of which all day
The red sunlight lazily lay.
Now each visitor shall confess
The sad valley's restlessness.
Nothing there is motionless-
Nothing save the airs that brood
Over the magic solitude.
Ah, by no wind are stirred those trees
That palpitate like the chill seas
Around the misty Hebrides!
Ah, by no wind those clouds are driven
That rustle through the unquiet Heaven
Uneasily, from morn till even,
Over the violets there that lie
In myriad types of the human eye-
Over the lilies there that wave
And weep above a nameless grave!
They wave: — from out their fragrant tops
Eternal dews come down in drops.
They weep: — from off their delicate stems
Perennial tears descend in gems.


1845

The pulse beats ten and intermits;
God nerve the soul that ne'er forgets
In calm or storm, by night or day,
Its steady toil, its loyalty.
[. . . ]

[. . . ]
The pulse beats ten and intermits;
God shield the soul that ne'er forgets.
[. . . ]

[. . . ]
The pulse beats ten and intermits;
God guide the soul that ne'er forgets.
[. . . ]

[. . . ] so tired, so weary,
The soft head bows, the sweet eyes close,
The faithful heart yields to repose.

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

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

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

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

Quisera roubar-te essas palavras e morrer
Trazer-te assim até ao fim do que eu puder
E começar um dia mais eternamente
Por te rever, só
Pudesse eu guardar-te nos sentidos e na voz
E descobrir o que será de nós
E demorar um dia mais eternamente
Por te rever, só
Quisera a ternura, calmaria azul do mar
O riso o amor o gosto a sal o sol do olhar
E um lugar pra me espraiar eternamente
Por te rever, só
Pudesse eu ser tempo a respirar no teu abraço
Adormecer e abandonar-me de cansaço
Quisera assim perder-me em mim eternamente
Por te rever, só

Traz-me de novo a memória de outros dias
Ter raiz nas romarias
Nas danças, nas cantorias
Na forma de se espraiar de um sonho errante
Em terra vasta e distante
Procurando o sal
Sinto voltar a saudade na cumprida
De palavras e vontades
De gestos e ansiedades
Das coisas que ainda não há mas que já estão
Na forma da nossa mão
Procurando o sal
Ah que os mares abertos fossem ventos
Fossem caravelas
Novos sonhos conquistando
Ah que o céu descubra rumos nossos
Nossas estrelas
Navegando
Molha-se a alma no suor da descoberta
Na pulsação da terra
De sonho e de pão repleta
A raiz outra vez a rebentar
Nova terra, novo mar
Procurando o sal
Seja de novo o impulso de viver
Para além de ir aguentando
E às cegas ir caminhando
Porque o dia tem cor do que é preciso
E pulsa no chão que eu piso
O sangue de Portugal
Ah que os mares abertos fossem ventos
Fossem caravelas
Novos sonhos conquistando
Ah que o céu descubra rumos nossos
Nossas estrelas
Navegando

A lenda de uma cigana
Adormecida ao relento
Que perdeu a caravana
Por seguir o pensamento
Tem dias que anda pairando
Nos rumos do mundo
Tem dias que anda rolando
Nas presas do tempo
Diz a lenda que a cigana
Pelo caminho onde viera
O xaile tinha perdido
E um vagabundo o trouxera
Sacudindo o pó e as mágoas
Como se a cor acordasse
Num abraço dançou com ela
Antes que o vento a roubasse
Só o vento nos roda a saia
Só o vento nos faz dançar
Nos confunde os passos na areia
Muda o rumo às águas do mar
No silêncio mal se ouviam
Dançar descalços na areia
Numa noite quase fria
Estava a lua quase cheia
E pra rasgarem o escuro
Ou fugir à solidão
Ataram corpos cansados
Na sombra vaga do chão
Quando o sol entorna o dia
Ficara o xaile esquecido
E os passos da cigana
Já o vento tinha escondido
Ficou só o vagabundo
Resgatando uma ilusão
Com a alma amordaçada
Na palma da mão
Só o vento nos roda a saia
Só o vento nos faz dançar
Nos confunde os passos na areia
Muda o rumo às águas do mar

húmido canto da boca
húmido olhar de soslaio
fresco de verde molhado
gotas de verde luar
riso no canto da boca
tão descarado no olhar
da cor bonita de Maio
húmido olhar de soslaio
sol que amormece na pele
gato a dormir na janela
o meu amor enroscado
em linho, meiguice e mel
sonhos no rubro dos lábios
fresco de verde molhado
da côr intensa de Maio
húmido olhar de soslaio

faz-me comichão na alma
o azul do olhar roçando
o riso que põe bricando
no canto da minha boca
riso de luar molhado
seus olhos do azul de Maio
húmido canto da boca
húmido olhar de soslaio

Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!
My spirit not awakening, till the beam
Of an Eternity should bring the morrow.
Yes! tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,
'Twere better than the cold reality
Of waking life, to him whose heart must be,
And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,
A chaos of deep passion, from his birth.
But should it be— that dream eternally
Continuing— as dreams have been to me
In my young boyhood— should it thus be given,
'Twere folly still to hope for higher Heaven.
For I have revell'd, when the sun was bright
I' the summer sky, in dreams of living light
And loveliness,— have left my very heart
In climes of my imagining, apart
From mine own home, with beings that have been
Of mine own thought— what more could I have seen?
'Twas once— and only once— and the wild hour
From my remembrance shall not pass— some power
Or spell had bound me— 'twas the chilly wind
Came o'er me in the night, and left behind
Its image on my spirit— or the moon
Shone on my slumbers in her lofty noon
Too coldly— or the stars— howe'er it was
That dream was as that night—wind— let it pass.

I have been happy, tho' in a dream.
I have been happy— and I love the theme:
Dreams! in their vivid coloring of life,
As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strife
Of semblance with reality, which brings
To the delirious eye, more lovely things
Of Paradise and Love— and all our own!
Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.


1827

de colchão em colchão
chego à conclusão
meu lar é no chão

quatro dias sem te ver
e não mudaste nada

falta açúcar na limonada

me perdi da minha namorada

nadei nadei e não dei em nada

sempre o mesmo poeta de bosta
perdendo tempo com a humanidade