Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Wives

A poem inspired in the Bluebeard story, published at the Wooden Box: The Wives

You, Cat, Who Play on the Street


My English version (that means all the faults are mine) of Fernando Pessoa´s poem "Gato que brincas na rua"

Cat who play on the street
As if you were in bed,
I envy your fate
Because I can´t even call it that.

Good servant of fatal laws
That rule over rocks and people,
You have general instincts
And your only feelings are what you feel.

You are happy because you´re like that,
All the nothing you are is yours
I see myself but I´m not in my own body,
I know myself but I´m not who I am.


(Gato que brincas na rua,Como se fosse na cama,Invejo a sorte que é tua,Porque nem sorte se chama. /Bom servo das leis fatais,Que regem pedras e gentes,Que tens instintos gerais,E sentes só o que sentes./És feliz porque és assim,Todo o nada que és é teu.Eu vejo-me e estou sem mim,Conheço-me e não sou eu.)