Diaspora

From the paths
trod,
From the seas
crossed
From the faces
recognized
From the islands
discovered,
From the lives
conquered,

From the compass-rose
blooming
at the corner
of all the directions,
lay the seeds
cast to the wind,
becoming leaf, flower and fruit,
rooted in an archipelago
made of mist cut
in the crater of dreams.

Dora Nunes Gago is a Professor of Literature at the University of Macau (China), with a Ph.D. in Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures. She has been a Lecturer at the Camões Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay; Professor of Secondary Education and post-doctoral researcher from the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [Foundation for Science and Technology]) at the University of Aveiro. She has published Planície de Memória (poetry, 1997); Sete Histórias de Gatos [Seven Cat Stories] (co-authored with Arlinda Mártires), 1st ed. 2004, 2nd ed. 2005; A Sul da escrita (Prémio Nacional de Conto Manuel da Fonseca [Manuel da Fonseca National Short Story Prize], 2007); Imagens do estrangeiro no Diário de Miguel Torga [Images of the Foreigner in Miguel Torga’s Diary], Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation/FCT, 2008. Additionally, she has published poems, short stories, articles and essays in various newspapers, magazines and anthologies.

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