Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Enigmatic Portuguese Poet

Fernando Pessoa & Co.: Selected PoemsFernando Pessoa & Co.: 
Selected Poems 
by Fernando Pessoa

“I am nothing.
I'll never be anything.
I couldn't want to be something.
Apart from that, I have in me all the dreams in the world.” 

― Fernando Pessoa


This poem demonstrates Pessoa's art better than any words I may conjure.


Where There Are Roses
We Plant Doubt

Where there are roses we plant doubt.
Most of the meaning we glean is our own,
And forever not knowing, we ponder.
Foreign to us, capacious nature
Unrolls fields, open flowers, ripens
Fruits, and death arrives.
I'll only be right, if anyone is right,
When death at last confounds my mind
And I no longer see,
For we cannot find and should not find
The remote and profound explanation
For why it is we live.

from the Odes


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2 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

I have heard so much about Pessoa. i did to read him in depth.


I find the above verse superb.

James said...

Brian,
This was one of his verses that I found fascinating. His poetry and prose is very elusive and I hope to read more in the future.