This week in our continuous project of bringing the works of Natália Correia to an English-speaking audience, as we at the Cátedra Natália Correia, from PBBI-Fresno State, feature the works of this important voice of Western Literature of the 20th century, a poem from Natália.

Clouds flowing in a river

Clouds flowing in a river

Who knows where they will end up?

Ghost of my ship

Don’t run, slow down!

You’re going down paths of mist

Which are paths of forgetfulness.

You don’t want, oh my ship

To become a lost ship.

Dreams hoisted to the wind

Want to sweep stars away!

Sails of my thoughts

Where will you take me?

Don’t run, oh my ship

Sail slower,

Than the clouds flowing in a river,

Who knows where they will end up?

This fate into which I come to

It is such a sad charade;

A ship that I don’t have

On a river that doesn’t exist.

Translated by Diniz Borges