Thursday, March 3, 2011

Back when they used to celebrate my birthday
I was happy and no one was dead.
In the old house even my birthday was centuries-old tradition,
And everyone's joy, mine included, was as sure as any religion.

Back when they used to celebrate my birthday
I enjoyed the good health of understanding nothing,
Of being intelligent in my family's eyes,
And of not having the hopes that others had for me.
When I began to have hope, I no longer knew how to hope.
When I began to look at life, it had lost all its meaning for me.


Yes, that person I knew as me,
That person with a heart and family,
That person of quasi-rural evenings all spent together,
That person who was a boy they loved,
That person - my God! - whom only today I realize I was . . .
How faraway! . . .
(Not even an echo . . .)
When they used to celebrate my birthday!

The person I am today is like the damp in the wall at the back of the house
That makes the walls mildew . . .
What I am today (and the house of those who loved me trembles through my tears) --
What I am today is their having sold the house,
It's all of them having died,
It's I having survived myself like a spent match.

2 comments:

  1. I invite you to visit two artists' books in tribute to Fernando Pessoa:

    http://www.peresalinas.com/libros-artista/PEQUE%D1OS/2009.htm


    In this link you will see a series of collages that I made and titled "Against Pessoa"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnbnSHBlyyM

    I hope you like them.

    Greetings

    Pere

    ReplyDelete
  2. finally a pessoa blog, thanks! Please keep on updating!

    ReplyDelete