Tag: poetry

Brazilian Portuguese translation of “The Dance”, by William Carlos Williams.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa.

A DANÇA

Na grande obra de Breughel, A Quermesse,

os dançarinos bailam, bailam e se

balançam, o estrondo e o fragor e o

ronco dos foles, corneta e rabecas

apoiados nas panças (roliças como as 

canecas em que bebem as rodadas)

suas bundas e barrigas bambeando

para revirá-las. Chutando e rodando 

na Área Comum, revirando traseiros, 

só coxas robustas suportam o peso 

de tão roliços arranjos, trotando alegres,

na grande obra de Breughel, A Quermesse.

THE DANCE

In Breughel’s great picture, The Kermess,

the dancers go round, they go round and

around, the squeal and the blare and the

tweedle of bagpipes, a bugle and fiddles

tipping their bellies (round as the thick-

sided glasses whose wash they impound)

their hips and their bellies off balance

to turn them. Kicking and rolling about

the Fair Grounds, swinging their butts, those

shanks must be sound to bear up under such

rollicking measures, prance as they dance

in Breughel’s great picture, The Kermess.

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Brazilian Portuguese translation of  “Young Woman at a Window”, by William Carlos Williams.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa.

A JOVEM NA JANELA

Sentada com
lágrimas

no rosto
o rosto

apoiado 
em sua mão

o narizinho
do menino

em seu colo
contra o vidro

YOUNG WOMAN AT A WINDOW

She sits with
tears on

her cheek
her cheek on

her hand
the child

in her lap
his nose

pressed
to the glass

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Brazilian Portuguese translation of  “Acquainted with the Night”, by Robert Frost.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa.

MINHA VELHA CONHECIDA, A NOITE

ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. 
I have been one acquainted with the night.

Hits: 73

Brazilian Portuguese translation of “I’ve seen a Dying Eye”, by Emily Dickinson.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa..

O OLHO AGONIZANTE

Já vi um Olho Agonizante
Rodar e rodar um Quarto—
À procura de Algo — parecia —
Então se Turvar—
E então—tomado por Névoa—
E então—chumbar-se ao chão
Sem revelar que imagem
Abençoou-lhe a passagem—

I’VE SEEN A DYING EYE

I’ve seen a Dying Eye
Run round and round a Room—
In search of Something—as it seemed—
Then Cloudier become—
And then—obscure with Fog—
And then—be soldered down
Without disclosing what it be
’Twere blessed to have seen—

Hits: 72

Brazilian Portuguese translation of “Counting”, by Philip Larkin.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa.

CONTAGEM

Pensar o um sozinho
Que fácil caminho!
Um quarto, uma cadeira, uma alcova,
Uma só pessoa,
Faz total sentido; um punhado
De desejos pode ser realizado,
Um caixão ocupado.

Mas contar até dois
Complica o depois;
O um deve ser negado
Antes de ser testado.

COUNTING

Thinking in terms of one
Is easily done—
One room, one bed, one chair,
One person there,
Makes perfect sense; one set
Of wishes can be met,
One coffin filled.

But counting up to two
Is harder to do;
For one must be denied
Before it’s tried.

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Brazilian Portuguese translation of  “Thursday“, by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Translation by Luísa Pessoa.

QUINTA

Se te amei na quarta,
   Isso é problema meu.
Não te amo na quinta —
Nosso caso morreu.

Já você vir reclamar,
   Porque isso te doeu,
Tá bom que te amei na quarta  — mas
   Isso é problema seu.

THURSDAY 

And if I loved you Wednesday, 
   Well, what is that to you?
I do not love you Thursday —
   So much is true. 

And why you come complaining 
Is more than I can see.
I loved you Wednesday,— yes — but what
   Is that to me?

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