Selected poems from Súria, by Vimala Devi translated from the Portuguese by D.A. Smith
IF I COULD KEEP
If I could keep
The dreams I lost
In the cold world of men...
Gone forever are
The childhood days
When I was a fairy
In an unreal world,
Where today I feel
Quite awake and attentive...
And now I'm dying little by little,
Because I lost all my dreams!
SE EU PUDESSE GUARDAR
Se eu pudesse guardar
Os sonhos perdidos
No mundo frio dos homens...
Apagaram-se de vez
Os tempos de criança
Em que eu era fada
Num mundo irreal,
Que hoje sinto
Bem desperta e atenta...
E agora vou morrendo aos poucos
Porque perdi todos os sonhos!
NOWADAYS
Nowadays
You are a shadow floating
On the waters of the Mandovi.
Nowadays
All that's left for me is to dream.
They tell me sad stories about you:
Your abandonment
To the monsoon winds,
With this harsh reality
Burning me up inside...
Oh, my home on the Mandovi,
I anxiously look for you
In every house I enter!
AGORA
Agora
És sombra a flutuar
Nas águas do Mandovi.
Agora
só me resta sonhar.
De ti me contam histórias tristes:
O teu abandono
Aos ventos da monção,
Com esta dura realidade
A queimar-me por dentro...
Oh minha casa à beira do Mandovi,
Busco-te com ansiedade
Em todas as casas onde entro!
YOUR STARVING MOUTH
Does your starving mouth
Only beg for the alms
Of a handful of rice?
Silence your misery
And don't try to find out
That you can't transform
That rice into roses!
TUA BOCA FAMINTA
Tua boca faminta
Só pede esmolas
De punhados de arroz?
Cala a tua miséria
E não tentes saber
Que não podes transformar
Esse arroz em rosas!
D.A. Smith is a writer and translator. His work includes translations of Orlando da Costa’s O Signo da Ira (The Sign of Wrath), the collected poetry of Goan freedom fighter Laxmanrao Sardessai (Avante, Goeses, Avante!: The Portuguese Poetry of Laxmanrao Sardessai), and Leonor Figueiredo’s biography of Luso-Goan-Angolan revolutionary Sita Valles (Sita Valles: A Revolutionary Until Death). With Daniel Michon, he co-translated/authored To Serve God in Holy Freedom: The Brief Rebellion of the Nuns of the Royal Convent of Santa Mónica, Goa, India, 1731–1734. He lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, books, and cats, and can be reached at dasmith@freeshell.org.
Banner image is by Denny Muller and downloaded from Unsplash.com