sarcasm always wins out in the end

Sophia de Mello Breyner, 'We Will Rise'

Ressurgiremos ainda sob os muros de Cnossos
E em Delphos centro do mundo
Ressurgiremos ainda na dura luz de Creta

Ressurgiremos ali onde as palavras
São o nome das coisas
E onde são claros e vivos os contornos
Na aguda luz de Creta

Ressurgiremos ali onde pedra estrela e tempo
São o reino do homem
Ressurgiremos para olhar para a terra de frente
Na luz limpa de Creta

Pois convém tornar claro o coração do homem
E erguer a negra exactidão da cruz
Na luz branca de Creta

We will rise again beneath the walls of Knossos
And in Delphi the centre of the world
We will rise again in the harsh light of Crete

We will rise where words
Are the names of things
Where outlines are clear and vivid
There in the sharp light of Crete

We will rise where stone the stars and time
Are the kingdom of man
We will rise to stare straight at the earth
In the clear light of Crete

For it is good to clarify the heart of man
And to lift the black exactness of the cross
In the white light of Crete

Trans. by Richard Zenith

Today's poem is by a twentieth-century Portuguese woman, Sophia de Mello Breyner. I encountered her poems in Lisbon last year - there is one engraved into a bench at the Lisbon Castle, overlooking the city - and they are glorious and worth checking out. I will no doubt post more from her this month.

Sophia de Mello Breyner, ‘I Listen’

Escuto mas não sei
Se o que oiço é silêncio
Ou deus

Escuto sem saber se estou ouvindo
O ressoar das planícies do vazio
Ou a consciência atenta
Que nos confines do universo
Me decifra e fita

Apenas sei que caminho como quem
É olhado amado e conhecido
E pos isso em cada gesto ponho
Solenidade e risco

I listen without knowing
If what hear is silence
Or god

I listen but don’t know if I’m hearing
The echo of the empty expanses
Or the attentive consciousness
Which from the edge of the universe
Sees and deciphers me

I know only that I walk as one
Who is watched loved and known
And that’s why I place in the smallest act
Solemnity and risk

Trans. by Richard Zenith