De Braziliaanse dichter, schrijver en vertaler Manuel Carneiro de Souza Bandeira Filho werd geboren op 19 april 1886 in Recife. Zie ook alle tags voor Manuel Bandeira op dit blog.
Absolute Death
To die.
To die body and soul.
Completely.
To die without leaving the sad remains of flesh,
Without leaving the bloodless mask of wax,
Surrounded by flowers,
Which will rot away — so happy! — one day,
Bathed in tears
Born less from grief than from the shock of death.
To die without leaving perhaps even a pilgrim soul…
On the way to heaven?
But what heaven can fulfill your dream of heaven?
To die without leaving a furrow, a trace, a shadow,
Without leaving even the remembrance of a shadow
In any human heart, in any human thought,
In any human skin.
To die so completely
That one day when somebody sees your name on a page
He will ask: “Who was he?…”
To die still more completely:
Without leaving even this name.
Apple
From one angle I see you just like a dried-up breast
From another just like a belly from whose navel still hangs the
umbilical cord
You are red as the divine love
Inside you in the little seeds
Palpitates a prodigious life
Infinitely
And you remain so simple
Beside a knife
In a poor hotel room.
Vertaald door John Nist
Manuel Bandeira (19 april 1886 – 13 oktober 1968)
Portret door Cândido Portinari