Do Not Attach to the Altars Those Who Are Gods

The gods desire not our kneeling.
Awkwardly we raise altars in their honor—
They turn from us, fall ill with our devotion,
And resolve themselves into silence.

Without her liberty of motion, Venus
Cannot descend to hell to seek her lover;
Therefore, she elects, amid delightful perils,
Pleasures and dreams—her wandering sanctuary.

In every god, eternity reveals itself;
It is well that the vow be to bird and to nymph,
For flowing unconfined within the fountain,
The conch-hand lifts the water to our lips.

Bind not to altars those who are gods,
For they are as unbridled as laughter itself,
From which, like chrysalides, imprisoned impulses
Break their shells and ascend into flight.

The oracle reproves all those who,
In the name of hollow faiths,
Murder laughter—passing from moment to tomb.
Joy is divine: its wings
Shriver when tethered to the stalks of renunciation.

Translated by Diniz Borges for an upcoming collection of poetry by Natália Correia.

Natália Correia (1923–1993) was one of Portugal’s most incandescent voices — poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and fearless advocate for freedom and women’s rights. Her words shook dictatorships, inspired generations, and continue to burn with relevance today.

The Insurgent Muse: Natália Correia in Translation is the first sustained project to bring her creative universe into English. Conceived under the auspices of the Cátedra Natália Correia at the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI), California State University, Fresno, this series brings together her lyrical poetry, her essays of resistance, her daring erotic writings, and her visionary humanism.

This project is more than translation — it is cultural bridge-building. It offers the Portuguese diaspora in North America a luminous return to one of their greatest voices, while introducing American and Canadian readers to a writer whose work belongs among the greats of world literature. In her lines, we find not only the soul of Portugal but also the universal call of a writer who believed that poetry was a force for liberty, equality, and imagination.

This project is sponsored by the Luso-American Education Foundation