Newly Discovered Poem of Fernando Pessoa's Caeiro

I enjoy heaven because I don’t believe that it’s infinite.
With me there is no beginning or end.
I don’t believe in the infinite, I don’t believe in eternity.
I believe space starts somewhere and ends somewhere
And that this side and the other means absolutely nothing.
I believe time has a beginning and an end,
And that before and after this there wasn’t time.
Why should this be false? It’s false to believe in infinites
As if we knew it or it were something we could understand.
No: everything is an amount of things.
Everything is defined, everything is limited, everything is things.

*

Gosto do céu porque não creio que ele seja infinito.
Que pode ter comigo o que não começa nem acaba?
Não creio no infinito, não creio na eternidade.
Creio que o espaço começa algures e algures acaba
E que aquém e além disso há absolutamente nada.
Creio que o tempo teve um princípio e terá um fim,
E que antes e depois disso não havia tempo.
Por que há-de ser isto falso? Falso é falar de infinitos
Como se soubéssemos o que são ou os pudéssemos entender.
Não: tudo é uma quantidade de cousas.
Tudo é definido, tudo é limitado, tudo é cousas.

********************

This poem of the heteronym Caeiro was discovered penciled on the flyleaf of a book in Pessoa’s personal library. It probably dates from around 1920.

Richard Zenith first brought this new discovery to Michael Lee Rattigan’s attention on June 22, 2010, at the Bridewell Theatre, London.

It was translated by Michael Lee Rattigan on August 20th 2010.

Michael Lee Rattigan is a poet and translator based in Surrey England, his translation of Fernando Pessoa’s ‘Complete Poems of Alberto Caeiro’ was published by Rufus Books, and will be re-printed at Open Season Press this year.

About these ads