POEMS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

POEMA DE ANA HATHERLY

As lágrimas do Poeta

Um poeta barroco disse:
As palavras são
As línguas dos olhos

Mas o que é um poema
Senão
Um telescópio do desejo
Fixado pela língua?

O voo sinuoso das aves
As altas ondas do mar
A calmaria do vento:
Tudo
Tudo cabe dentro das palavras
E o poeta que vê
Chora lágrimas de tinta

in O Pavão Negro, 2003

The Poet’s Tears

One baroque poet said:
The words are
The eyes’ tongues

But what is a poem
If not
A telescope of desire
Focused by language?

The sinuous flight of the birds
The tall waves of the sea
The lull of the wind:
Everything
Everything fits into words
And the poet who sees
Weeps tears of ink

© Translated by Ana Hudson, 2010
in Poems from the Portuguese