The Path of Time

Always try to have the past present
in all you do, even if
you’ve proceeded in the sole possible direction:
Life doesn’t allow for delays or jolted
starts, and the striking of the second is its most
visible face. Try to remember the trees
you planted in someone’s life, the lines
you followed when your heart was lost and
the others you rationally drew with your hand
mimicking the earliest creating gesture. Remember
the faces you kissed, the planes your boarded,
the laughs and the tears you shed. But most
important of all, after having put it all
away in the fickle space of memory,
remember decisions and gifts that
allowed you to escape each day the death
awaiting you in some hour-oblivious corner.

© Translated by Ana Hudson, 2020

O caminho do tempo

Tenta sempre que o passado esteja em
todas as coisas que faças, ainda que
tenhas evoluído no único sentido possível:
A vida não tolera atrasos nem bruscos
avanços, e o bater do segundo é a sua face
mais visível. Procura lembrar-te das árvores
que plantaste na vida de alguém, das linhas
em que o teu coração se perdeu e das outras
que desenhaste racionalmente com a mão,
imitando o gesto criador inicial. Lembra-te
dos rostos que beijaste, dos aviões que tomaste,
dos risos e das lágrimas que verteste. Mas
mais importante que isso, ou depois de tudo
acondicionado no volátil espaço da memória,
lembra-te das decisões e das dádivas que
te permitiram escapar à morte de cada dia,
ela que sempre te esperou quando menos
esperavas num canto distraído das horas.

2012, Eudaimonia

ed. de autor
© Ricardo Marques

Our PBBI-Fresno State Project

Roots and Wings: Portuguese Poetry in Translation is a series that gathers voices from Portugal and introduces English language readers to a tradition at once intimate and expansive, where the rhythms of saudade echo across the Atlantic and the light of new lands refracts into verse.

Each poem is a journey: from the ancestral lands to homes throughout the English-speaking world, from classic poets who shaped a language to contemporary voices writing freedom, justice, and love into the present. Together, these poems are bridges between generations, geographies, and languages.

For Portuguese communities in North America, this series is a return to origins, a reclaiming of memory, and a celebration of their shared heritage. For all readers, it is an invitation to discover a lyrical heritage that speaks to the universal human condition — the desire for home, the ache of distance, and the wonder of words that, like wings, transcend borders.

This project is sponsored by the Luso-American Education Foundation.

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