CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE: FOUR POEMS, WITH TRANSLATIONS – George Monteiro
August 17, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987). One of the great twentieth-century poets, he published twenty-two books of poetry, beginning with Alguma Poesia, privately printed, in 1930. The texts of the four Drummond poems that appear below are taken from Nova Reunião (Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio, 1983), which reprints the first nineteen volumes of his poetry. The accompanying translations are unpublished.
1.
NO MEIO DO CAMINHO
No meio do caminho tinha uma pedra
tinha uma pedra no meio do caminho
tinha uma pedra
no meio do caminho tinha uma pedra.
Nunca me esquecerei desse acontecimento
na vida de minhas retinas tão fatigadas.
Nunca me esquecerei que no meio do caminho
Tinha uma pedra
Tinha uma pedra no meio do caminho
No meio do caminho tinha uma pedra.
IN HE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
In the middle of the road there was a stone
there was a stone in the middle of the road
there was a stone
in the middle of the road there was a stone.
Never shall I forget this incident
in the life of my over-tired retinas.
Never shall I forget that in the middle of the road
there was a stone
there was a stone in the middle of the road
in the middle of the road there was a stone.
2.
SENTIMENTO DO MUNDO
Tenho apenas duas mãos
e o sentimento do mundo,
mas estou cheio de escravos,
minhas lembranças escorrem
e o corpo transige
na coinfluência do amor.
Quando me levantar, o céu
estará morto e saqueado,
eu mesmo estarei morto,
morto meu desejo, morto
o pântano sem acordes.
Os camaradas não disseram
que havia uma guerra
e era necessário
trazer fogo e álimento.
Sinto-me disperso,
anterior a fronteiras,
humildemente vos peço
que me perdoeis.
Quando os corpos passarem,
eu ficarei sozinho
desfiando a recordação
do sineiro, da viúva e do microscopista
que habitavam a barraca
e não foram encontrados
ao amanhecer
esse amanhecer
mais noite que a noite.
A FEELING ABOUT THE WORLD
I have two hands only
and a feeling for the world,
but I am teeming with slaves,
I am drenched in memories
and my body gives in before
the compromises of love.
When I arise, the heavens
will be dead and plundered,
I myself will be dead,
dead will be desire, dead
the dissonant swamp.
The fellows didn't say
there was a war on
and that it was necessary
to bring along fire and food.
I find myself at loose ends,
facing frontiers;
with humility I beg you
to forgive me.
When the bodies have moved by,
I shall be alone
picking away at memories
of the ringer, the widow and the scientist
who inhabited the hut
and were not found
at daybreak
that daybreak
more night than night.
3.
POEMA DA NECESSIDADE
É preciso casar João,
é preciso suportar Antônio,
é preciso odiar Melquíades,
é preciso substituir nós todos.
É preciso salvar o país,
é preciso crer em Deus.
é preciso pagar as dívidas,
é preciso comprar um rádio,
é preciso esquecer fulana.
É preciso estudar volapuque,
é preciso estar sempre bêbedo,
é preciso ler Baudelaire,
é preciso colher as flores
de que rezam velhos autores.
É preciso viver com os homens,
é preciso não assassiná-los,
é preciso ter mãos pálidas
e anunciar o fim do mundo.
POEM OF NECESSITIES
It's a necessity to get John married,
it's a necessity to tolerate Antonio,
it's a necessity to hate Melquíades,
it's a necessity to replace ourselves.
It's a necessity to save the country,
it's a necessity to believe in God,
it's a necessity to pay the bills,
it's a necessity to buy a radio,
it's a necessity to forget so-and-so.
It's a necessity to study volapuk,
it's a necessity to stay drunk,
it's a necessity to read Baudelaire,
it's a necessity to pick the flowers
praised by ancient writers.
It's a necessity to live among men,
it's a necessity to avoid killing them,
it's a necessity to have clean hands
and herald the end of the world.
4.
FALTA POUCO
Falta pouco para acabar
o uso desta mesa pela manhä
o hábito de chegar à janela da esquerda
aberta sobre enxugadores de roupa.
Falta pouco para acabar
a própria obrigaçäo de roupa
a obrigaçäo de fazer barba
a consulta a dicionários
a conversa com amigos pelo telefone.
Falta pouco
para acabar o recebimento de cartas
as sempre adiadas respostas
o pagamento de impostos ao país, à cidade
as novidades sangrentas do mundo
a música dos intervalos.
Falta pouco para o mundo acabar
sem explosäo
sem outro ruído
além do que escapa da garganta com falta de ar.
Agora que ele estava principiando
a confessar
na bruma seu semblante e melodia.
IT WON'T BE LONG
It won't be long before my morning's daily stint
at this table comes to an end
this habit of walking to the window on the left
opening out over hanging clothes-lines.
It won't be long before there is an end
to the very need for clothing
the obligatory shave
looking up things in the dictionary
talking to friends on the phone.
It won't be long
before there's an end to receiving letters
to their ever-put-off replies
to paying taxes to one's country, the city
to the blood-soaked news of the world
to the music of intervals.
Not much longer before the world ends
without exploding
without noise
save for the sound the throat makes when breath fails.
Just as through the mists
it was starting to body out
its countenance, its melody.
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, "No Meio do Caminho," in Alguma Poesia; "Sentimento do Mundo," in Sentimento do Mundo; "Poema de Necessidade," in Sentimento do Mundo; "Falta Pouco," in A falta que ama (Nova Reunião[Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio, 1983], pp. 15, 64, 65-66, and 428, respectively.
George Monteiro is Professor Emeritus of English and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University, and he continues as Adjunct Professor of Portuguese Studies at the same university. He served as Fulbright lecturer in American Literature in Brazil--Sao Paulo and Bahia--Ecuador and Argentina; and as Visiting Professor in UFMG in Belo Horizonte. In 2007 he served as Helio and Amelia Pedroso / Luso-American Foundation Professor of Portuguese, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Among his recent books are Stephen Crane's Blue Badge of Courage, Fernando Pessoa and Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Literature, The Presence of Pessoa, The Presence of Camões, and Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop and Critical Essays on Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. Among his translations are Iberian Poems by Miguel Torga, A Man Smiles at Death with Half a Face by José Rodrigues Miguéis, Self-Analysis and Thirty Other Poems by Fernando Pessoa, and In Crete, with the Minotaur, and Other Poems by Jorge de Sena. He has also published two collections of poems, The Coffee Exchange and Double Weaver's Knot.
