Poems by Maria do Rosário Pedreira

1.
​​If you’re coming for me, don’t raise your hand
to call me – in the house I was born,
my mother used to count the pains
on dads’ fingers and said that raising
the hand was the excuse of whom was
ill with love. My mother, an angel,
 
is no more. But if  you come for me,
leave the clouds at the door and don’t bring
the wind in: the wind shows very old
dusts and discovers sins where
there aren’t; and behind the sins
 
come ugly questions, and screams, and then the
hands on the chest, on the face, and the pain. My
sister, an angel, would tell you better. But she is
 
no more. Now it’s just you and me, and I do not
know where we are; but, if you came for me,
call me silently in your heart -  this house is
so far from the world and I still hear
the sound of tambours in the night:
 
there must be dads’ fingers beating death.
 
(Published in Y amores imperfectos, Bogota, Puro Passaro, 2018; © Translated by Maria do Carmo Figueira)

 
 
Se vieres por mim, não levantes a mão
para me chamar – na casa onde nasci,
a minha mãe contava as dores pelos
dedos do meu pai e dizia que levantar
a mão era desculpa de quem vinha com
a doença do amor. A minha mãe – um
 
anjo – já lá vai. Mas tu, se vens por mim,
deixa as nuvens lá fora e não tragas o
vento para dentro de casa: o vento levanta
poeiras muito antigas e descobre pecados
onde não estavam; e atrás dos pecados
 
vêm perguntas feias, e gritos, e logo as
mãos – no peito, no rosto – e tantas dores.
A minha irmã – um anjo – contava-to
melhor. Mas já não está. Agora estamos
 
só tu e eu, e não sei onde estamos; mas, se
vieste por mim, chama-me calado no teu
coração – tão longe do mundo é esta casa
e eu ainda ouço às vezes tambores na noite:
 
batem talvez na morte os dedos do meu pai.

 
 
2.
 
That summer, the wind disheveled the fields and the boats
yelled over the waves. The excessive beauty
of children burst the mirrors; and the girls,
coming upon the intimacies of their parents, went mad
in the passage ways and sought perdition
in the voluptuousness of days.  On the centenary trees
 
there was a bursting of fruit which inflamed the palms of the hands
and slid towards mouths with the hastiness of forbidden
names.  The sun burned the pages of the book
that was halted by the violence of a poem, and bent
the corners of the only portrait that had resisted the frame
of time.  At night, the boys dived into the bays
 
in pursuit of stars; and the lovers, disturbed
by the plainness of their bedrooms, set off to make love
in the cold  of the beach huts and woke up
inside each other’s voices.  I can’t remember
what I said or what you said:
 
summer unsettles the feelings.
 
(In Poesia Reunida, Lisboa, Quetzal, 2012; © translated by Ana Hudson with Gabriel Gbadamosi)

 
 
Nesse verão, o vento despenteou os campos e os barcos
andaram aos gritos sobre as ondas. A beleza excessiva
das crianças arrombou os espelhos; e as raparigas,
surpreendendo a intimidade dos pais, enlouqueceram
nos corredores e foram perder-se, também elas,
na volúpia dos dias. Nas árvores centenárias
 
rebentaram frutos que inflamavam a concha das mãos
e escorregavam para a boca com a pressa dos nomes
proibidos. O sol queimou as páginas do livro
interrompido na violência de um poema e revirou
os cantos do único retrato que resistira à moldura
do tempo. De noite, os rapazes deitaram-se às baías
 
atrás das estrelas; e os amantes, incomodados
com a exiguidade dos quartos, foram fazer amor
nos balneários frios da praia e acordaram nas vozes
um do outro. Já não sei o que disse e o que disseste:
 
o verão desarruma os sentimentos.

Maria do Rosário Pedreira was born in Lisbon in 1959. She has a degree in Modern Languages and Literatures and has worked in publishing since 1987 - her brief includes the discovery of writers of new literary fiction in Portugal. She has also written a novel and two series of books for young readers which were both adapted for television. All her poetry books are now collected in one volume published in 2012. She writes lyrics for fado singers and has a blog on literary issues. 

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