15 December 2013

la vue de delft

vue de delft
... un critique ayant écrit que dans la Vue de Delft de Ver Meer (prêté par le musée de La Haye pour une exposition hollandaise), tableau qu’il adorait et croyait connaître très bien, un petit pan de mur jaune (qu’il ne se rappelait pas) était si bien peint, qu’il était, si on le regardait seul, comme une précieuse œuvre d’art chinoise, d’une beauté qui se suffirait à elle-même, Bergotte mangea quelques pommes de terre, sortit et entra à l’exposition. Dès les premières marches qu’il eut à gravir, il fut pris d’étourdissements. Il passa devant plusieurs tableaux et eut l’impression de la sécheresse et de l’inutilité d’un art si factice, et qui ne valait pas les courants d’air et de soleil d’un palazzo de Venise, ou d’une simple maison au bord de la mer. Enfin il fut devant le Ver Meer, qu’il se rappelait plus éclatant, plus différent de tout ce qu’il connaissait, mais où, grâce à l’article du critique, il remarqua pour la première fois des petits personnages en bleu, que le sable était ros e, et enfin la précieuse matière du tout petit pan de mur jaune. Ses étourdissements augmentaient ; il attachait son regard, comme un enfant à un papillon jaune qu’il veut saisir, au précieux petit pan de mur. « C’est ainsi que j’aurais dû écrire, disait-il. Mes derniers livres sont trop secs, il aurait fallu passer plusieurs couches de couleur, rendre ma phrase en elle-même précieuse, comme ce petit pan de mur jaune. » Cependant la gravité de ses étourdissements ne lui échappait pas. Dans une céleste balance lui apparaissait, chargeant l’un des plateaux, sa propre vie, tandis que l’autre contenait le petit pan de mur si bien peint en jaune. Il sentait qu’il avait imprudemment donné le premier pour le second. « Je ne voudrais pourtant pas, se disait-il, être pour les journaux du soir le fait divers de cette exposition. »
Il se répétait : « Petit pan de mur jaune avec un auvent, petit pan de mur jaune. » Cependant il s’abattit sur un canapé circulaire ; aussi brusquement il cessa de penser que sa vie était en jeu et, revenant à l’optimisme, se dit : « C’est une simple indigestion que m’ont donnée ces pommes de terre pas assez cuites, ce n’est rien. » Un nouveau coup l’abattit, il roula du canapé par terre, où accoururent tous les visiteurs et gardiens. Il était mort. »

28 November 2013

alors...

Alors
Je prie le ciel
Que nul ne me regarde
Si ce n'est au travers d'un verre d'illusion
Retenant seulement
...sur l'écran glacé d'un horizon qui boude
ce fin profil de fil de fer amer
si délicatement délavé
par l'eau qui coule
les larmes de rosée
les gouttes de soleil
les embruns de la mer

14 November 2013

je rêve

Mon amour pour avoir figuré mes désirs
Mis tes lèvres au ciel de tes mots comme un astre
Tes baisers dans la nuit vivante
Et le sillage de tes bras autour de moi
Comme une flamme en signe de conquête
Mes rêves sont au monde
Clairs et perpétuels.

Et quand tu n'es pas là
Je rêve que je dors je rêve que je rêve.

31 October 2013

Elle se penche sur moi
Le coeur ignorant
Pour voir si je l'aime
Elle a confiance elle oublie
Sous les nuages de ses paupières
Sa tête s'endort dans mes mains
Où sommes-nous
Ensemble, inséparables
Vivants vivants
Vivant vivante
Et ma tête roule en ses rêves

24 October 2013

lovers on aran

The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas

To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush
to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?
Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity.

17 October 2013

Nurse Sue Ann Duckett was a tall, spare, mature, straight-backed woman with a prominent, well-rounded ass, small breasts and angular ascetic New England features that came equally close to being very lovely and very plain. Her skin was white and pink, her eyes small, her nose and chin slender and sharp. She was able, prompt, strict and intelligent. She welcomed responsibility and kept her head in every crisis. She was adult and self-reliant, and there was nothing she needed from anyone. Yossarian took pity and decided to help her.

3 October 2013

la vie

Sourire aux visiteurs
Qui sortent de leur cachette
Quand elle sort elle dort

Chaque jour plus matinale
Chaque saison plus nue
Plus fraîche

Pour suivre ses regards
Elle se balance.

19 September 2013

je te l'ai dit

Je te l'ai dit pour les nuages
Je te l'ai dit pour l'arbre de la mer
Pour chaque vague pour les oiseaux dans les feuilles
Pour les cailloux du bruit
Pour les mains familières
Pour l'oeil qui devient visage ou paysage
Et le sommeil lui rend le ciel de sa couleur
Pour toute la nuit bue
Pour la grille des routes
Pour la fenêtre ouverte pour un front découvert
Je te l'ai dit pour tes pensées pour tes paroles
Toute caresse toute confiance se survivent.

5 September 2013

I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles—I believe I can guess that," she added aloud.
"Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said the March Hare.
"Exactly so," said Alice.
"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know."
"You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, "that ’I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ’I sleep when I breathe!’"

22 August 2013

bercée de chair

Bercée de chair frémissante pâture
Sur les rives du sang qui déchirent le jour
Le sang nocturne l’a chassée
Échevelée la gorge prise aux abus de l’orage
Victime abandonnée des ombres
Et des pas les plus doux et des désirs limpides
Son front ne sera plus le repos assuré
Ni ses yeux la faveur de rêver de sa voix
Ni ses mains les libératrices.

Criblée de feux criblée d’amour n’aimant personne
Elle se forge des douleurs démesurées
Et toutes ses raisons de souffrir disparaissent.

8 August 2013

nocturne

Le ciel nocturne et bas s'éblouit de la ville
Et mon cœur bat d'amour à l'unisson des vies
Qui animent la ville au-dessous des grands cieux
Et l'allument le soir sans étonner nos yeux

Les rues ont ébloui le ciel de leurs lumières
Et l'esprit éternel n'est que par la matière
Et l'amour est humain et ne vit qu'en nos vies
L'amour cet éternel qui meurt inassouvi

31 July 2013

30 July 2013

28 July 2013

209

camarões, caipirinha,
manga, pimenta e melancia.
sesta de verão

26 July 2013

24 July 2013

21 July 2013

202

uma funcionária
não nos deixa esquecer
as pequenas autoridades

19 July 2013

18 July 2013

17 July 2013

198

tudo parece tão pequeno
depois de um cappuccino
no Café Trieste

15 July 2013

196

de Salsalito nos parece
que todas as pontes
levam à São Francisco

14 July 2013

13 July 2013

12 July 2013

193

à esquerda, montanhas douradas
o oceano azul à direita
à frente, a estrada

11 July 2013

10 July 2013

191

entregues à onds
as focas desdenham os turistas.
Los Lobos Point

8 July 2013

7 July 2013

6 July 2013

5 July 2013

3 July 2013

30 June 2013

28 June 2013

26 June 2013

21 June 2013

15 June 2013

12 June 2013

7 June 2013

6 June 2013

4 June 2013

155

tão concentrado!
o menino esvazia na banheira
o vidro de sabão

3 June 2013

31 May 2013

30 May 2013

29 May 2013

28 May 2013

27 May 2013

24 May 2013

23 May 2013

22 May 2013

142

horas no carro
o congestionamento convida a
uma breve meditação

18 May 2013

9 May 2013

sonetto di paradiso | sonnet on paradise

Mi viene in sogno una bianca casetta,
sull’erto colle, dentro un’aria affatto
tranquilla; e il verde del colle è compatto
e solitario, e l’ora è benedetta.

Mi viene in sogno una dolce capretta,
che mi sta presso, e mi sogguarda in atto
placido umano, quasi un muto patto
ne legasse. Poi pasce ancor l’erbetta.

Volge il sole al tramonto; un luccichio
cava dai vetri, un dorato splendore,
della casetta su in alto romita.

E tutto il dolce che c’è nella vita
in quel sol punto, in quel solo fulgore
s’era congiunto, in quell’ultimo addio.


In a dream a small white house comes to me,
on the slope of a hill enclosed in a perfectly
tranquil air, and the green of the hill is dense
and deserted, and the hour is blessed.

In a dream a gentle goat comes to me,
who stays close by and looks at me sidelong
in a placid human manner, almost as if a silent pact
binds us. Then she resumes cropping the short grass.

The sun turns toward its setting, the windows
glitter, a golden brightness shines from
the small house on the lonely height.

And all the sweetness to be found in life,
in that one moment, in that sole radiance
has been gathered in that final good-bye.

translate by george hochfield

129

o menino quieto
os pássaros conversam
entre as árvores

8 May 2013

128

do túmulo do pintor
a vista alcança a linha
entre o céu e o mar

5 May 2013

3 May 2013

2 May 2013

ulisse | ulysses

O tu che sei sì triste ed hai presagi
d'orrore - Ulisse al declino - nessuna
dentro l'anima tua dolcezza aduna
la Brama
per una
pallida sognatrice di naufragi
che t'ama?


O you so joyless and with forebodings
of horror - Ulysses in decline - does no
Desire
muster tenderness in your soul
for a
pale dreamer of shipwrecks
who loves you?

translate by george hochfield

122

da manifestação ao longe
os slogans me trazem
mais preguiça

29 April 2013

119

domingo de manhã
baguette, brioche de laranja,
e o sorriso da boulangère

28 April 2013

118

algazarra do pássaros,
algazarra das crianças,
espírito em paz

25 April 2013

commiato | envoi

Voi lo sapete, amici, ed io lo so.
Anche i versi somigliano alle bolle
di sapone; una sale e un'altra no.


You know it friends, and I do too.
Poems also resemble soap bubbles:
one flies up, and another, no.

translate by george hochfield

115

entre as pinturas
saudades de tempos
que não vivi

24 April 2013

22 April 2013

112

sob as rugas, a sujeira,
a miséria, a tristeza, um olhar
límpido

20 April 2013

18 April 2013

la stazione | the station

a stazione ricordi, a notte, piena
d'ultimi adii, di mal frenati pianti,
che la tradotta in partenza affollava?
una trombetta giu in fondo suonava
l'avanti;
ed il tuo cuore, il tuo cuore agghiacciava.


remember the station at night filled with
last good-byes and ill-restrained tears,
mobbed by the troop train about to pull out?
a bugle in the distance signaled
departure
and your heart, your heart turned to ice.

translate by george hochfield

108

as chaves brincam
de esconde-esconde
na mochila

15 April 2013

12 April 2013

11 April 2013

Alice went timidly up to the door and knocked.
"There’s no sort of use in knocking," said the Footman, "and that for two reasons. First, because I’m on the same side of the door as you are; secondly, because they’re making such a noise inside, no one could possibly hear you." And certainly there was a most extraordinary noise going on within—a constant howling and sneezing, and every now and then a great crash, as if a dish or kettle had been broken to pieces.
"How am I to get in?" asked Alice.
"Are you to get in at all?" said the Footman. "That’s the first question, you know."

101

de onde veio
tanto verde?
primavera súbita

8 April 2013

98

cores novas,
antigos proprietários,
sempre meu café da esquina

5 April 2013

95

uma procissão de passantes
cabeças baixas, olhares fixos
em seus telefones

1 April 2013

91

uma prensença
quando empurro a grande porta
da basílica de fauvières

31 March 2013

les nouvelles nourritures

in the way to saint michel's castle
Je ne trouve pas précisément des défenses et des prohibitions dans la lettre de l’Evangile. Mais il s’agit de contempler du regard le plus clair possible et j’éprouve que chaque objet de cette terre, que je convoite, se fait opaque, par cela même que je la convoite, et que le monde entier perd aussitôt sa transparence, ou que mon regard perd sa clarté de sorte que Dieu cesse d’être sensible à mon âme, et qu’en abandonnant le Créateur pour la créature mon âme cesse de vivre dans l’éternel et perd possession du royaume de Dieu.

Eu não encontro interdições e proibições precisas na letra do Evangelho. Se trata sim de contemplar com o olhar mais límpido possível e eu sinto que cada objeto desta terra, que eu cobice, se faz opaco, pela razão mesma que eu o cobiço, e que o mundo imediatamente perde sua transparência, ou que meu olhar perde sua clareza, de maneira a que Deus cesse de ser sensível à minha alma, e que abandonando o Criador pela criatura minha alma cesse de viver na eternidade e perde a posse do reino de Deus.

90

percebemos a chuva
através das cortinas
sábado quieto

30 March 2013

29 March 2013

28 March 2013

25 March 2013

24 March 2013

83

pequenas cóleras
causadas por uma acidente distante
às vezes...

22 March 2013

21 March 2013

20 March 2013

18 March 2013

17 March 2013

76

por vezes intermináveis
o cinza do arranha-céus
os dias de inverno

16 March 2013

14 March 2013

13 March 2013

11 March 2013

10 March 2013

9 March 2013

7 March 2013

le pont mirabeau

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Les mains dans les mains restons face à face
Tandis que sous
Le pont de nos bras passe
Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante
L'amour s'en va
Comme la vie est lente
Et comme l'Espérance est violente

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Passent les jours et passent les semaines
Ni temps passé
Ni les amours reviennent
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

66

por calçadas vazias
o eco de passos rápidos
a cidade em férias

6 March 2013

4 March 2013

Alice gave a weary sigh. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I’ve had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can’t take more."
"You mean you can’t take less," said the Hatter; "it’s very easy to take more than nothing."

63

pergunto ao café
o que ele gostaria
que eu fizesse de minha vida

3 March 2013

28 February 2013

59

o homem no rádio
promete dias mais brandos:
promessas, promessas.

27 February 2013

26 February 2013

57

tanta gente!
ninguém sobe, ninguém desce
nas escadas do metrô

24 February 2013

23 February 2013

22 February 2013

21 February 2013

the reckoning

All profits disappear: the gain
Of ease, the hoarded, secret sum;
And now grim digits of old pain
Return to litter up our home.

We hunt the cause of ruin, add,
Subtract, and put ourselves in pawn;
For all our scratching on the pad,
We cannot trace the error down.

What we are seeking is a fare
One way, a chance to be secure:
The lack that keeps us what we are,
The penny that usurps the poor.

52

sonho acordado, me pergunto
como seria esse mundo
sem mim?

20 February 2013

18 February 2013

14 February 2013

once more, the round

What's greater, Pebble or Pond?
What can be known? The Unknown.
My true self runs toward a Hill
More! O More! visible.

Now I adore my life
With the Bird, the abiding Leaf,
With the Fish, the questing Snail,
And the Eye altering All;
And I dance with William Blake
For love, for Love's sake;

And everything comes to One,
As we dance on, dance on, dance on.

45

levanto de um pulo
de onde virá
tanta energia?

13 February 2013

44

embalado pelo carro
levado pelos remédios
adormeço no meio da conversa

12 February 2013

11 February 2013

10 February 2013

At last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and addressed Alice in a languid, sleepy voice.
"Who are you?" said the Caterpillar.
Alice replied, rather shyly, "I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then."
"What do you mean by that?" said the Caterpillar, sternly. "Explain yourself!"
"I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir," said Alice, "because I’m not myself, you see—being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing." She drew herself up and said very gravely, "I think you ought to tell me who you are, first."
"Why?" said the Caterpillar.

41

o plic-plic das gotas
embala a sesta
tarde de inverno

7 February 2013

the waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

38

não é o avião que vai
a terra lá embaixo, ela
corre, branca e fria

6 February 2013

Alice was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire-Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. The Cat only grinned when it saw her. "Cheshire-Puss," began Alice, rather timidly, "would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?" "In that direction," the Cat said, waving the right paw ’round, "lives a Hatter; and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like; they’re both mad."
"But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat; "we’re all mad here."

37

e sem eu perceber
as esperanças de nossos antepassados
calçam o caminho

5 February 2013

proteggimi

proteggimi
picture by impl69sion
This picture is the closest one can get to capturing an intimate moment. The fluid atmosphere created by the movement and the depth of field create the impression of an ephemeral instant. The cropping of the picture suggests that we are just peeking at a mother and son's intimacy.
The diagonal arm of the mother makes a nice composition, breaking the square and adding to the movement. Perfect.

36

o apito do navio,
a gaivota me lembram: há sempre
a possibilidade da viagem

4 February 2013

1 February 2013

31 January 2013

30 January 2013

29 January 2013

28 January 2013

You know, if it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. I think that the worst you can say about him is that basically he's an underachiever.

28

céu cheio de nuvens
dia propício para
ver raios de sol

27 January 2013

26 January 2013

25 January 2013

24 January 2013

17 January 2013

17

anoitecer de inverno
os escritórios iluminam
a calçada congelada

16 January 2013

16

certas madrugadas
no escuro do meu quarto
a ausência de meu pai

15 January 2013

14 January 2013

13 January 2013

12 January 2013

11 January 2013

10 January 2013

one art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

10

em silêncio
percorro as notícias
de tragédias distantes

9 January 2013

"There’s more evidence to come yet, please Your Majesty," said the White Rabbit, jumping up in a great hurry. "This paper has just been picked up. It seems to be a letter written by the prisoner to—to somebody." He unfolded the paper as he spoke and added, "It isn’t a letter, after all; it’s a set of verses."
"Please, Your Majesty," said the Knave, "I didn’t write it and they can’t prove that I did; there’s no name signed at the end." "You must have meant some mischief, or else you’d have signed your name like an honest man," said the King. There was a general clapping of hands at this.
"Read them," he added, turning to the White Rabbit.
There was dead silence in the court whilst the White Rabbit read out the verses.
"That’s the most important piece of evidence we’ve heard yet," said the King.
"I don’t believe there’s an atom of meaning in it," ventured Alice.
"If there’s no meaning in it," said the King, "that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn’t try to find any."

9

dias curtos
neste inverno
nesta vida

5 January 2013

4 January 2013

4

absorvido pelo novo ano
deixo partir meu chapéu
no metrô vazio

3 January 2013

3

primeiros dias do novo ano
o metrô sai lentamente
da estação

2 January 2013

1 January 2013

"Are you both crazy?" the doctor cried shrilly, backing away in paling confusion.
"Yes, he really is crazy, Doc," Dunbar assured him. "Every night he dreams he's holding a live fish in his hands."
The doctor stopped in his tracks with a look of elegant amazement and distaste, and the ward grew still. "He does what?" he demanded.
"He dreams he's holding a live fish in his hand."
"What kind of fish?" the doctor inquired sternly of Yossarian.
"I don't know," Yossarian answered. "I can't tell one kind of fish from another."
"In which hand do you hold them?"
"It varies," answered Yossarian.
"It varies with the fish," Dunbar added helpfully.
The colonel turned and stared down at Dunbar suspiciously with a narrow squint. "Yes? And how come you seem to know so much about it?"
"I'm in the dream," Dunbar answered without cracking a smile.

1

por baixo do nosso avião
o mesmo mundo gira
um novo ano passa