Dance

 

 

 

They dance.

How they all dance between us

Until we hold hands again

Thirty seas arise within us

With their blissful colours

Fighting over our hearts

Always and Never

Always and never.
We shall hold each other
The fire slow and raging
Our lips will burn together
With no common lands

Always and never.
We shall dance through
the other side of mirrors
Our smiles will shine
Tarnished and Transparent

Always and never.
We shall trap the ghosts
The spiders that creep up
Our broken end minds
With freedom to stay

Always and never.
We shall love each other
the deep dark mystery
Our bodies trying touch
Infinite and impossible

2011

Promise

We have our promise
And our promise is all that stands
Under its floating beauty
the present crawls with no demands


We have our promise
And we pretend
that the stream is alien
that the days are chains
which we have to carry
And we dream castles of sand
While our foreign reasons
construct another plan
And we talk of a common land
That faraway escape that
our hearts command


Permeated by the sun
we have become the bigger liars
we look above and walk apart


We had our promise
And our promise is all that stands.
It's sour beauty to remind us
that we drowned our day
excused our neglect
and smiled

Goodbye.

Maio 2012

Suspended Intersections

...and the wall breaks

and the thousands of pieces,
the world of distraction
revolve around my eyes
preventing other lights to reach

The old words of my grandmother.
her face - the words changing

and miss in the deepest
what I never knew

the deepest, the long-ago forgotten

bikes run within me
watching hills delineate

 in silent film

The smile is not heard
the most haunting silence
speaks and is not heard

The words that my grandmother wanted to tell me

Her mouth moves in the air that does not exist
and it insists, insists
a smile
the secret that can not be forgotten
and that hovers and that hovers

What was best kept was stored dying

And the music vibrates, extends disappearing
almost static
and under its water the words are indistinguishable

The most important is not deciphered

And her mouth articulates in a quiet
a quiet and wise despair

and nothing sounds besides that
sharp A that drags itself,
that slides and shuts

The most important you can not tell

It moves in the same eternal sun
the same gesture perpetual, simple
so easy to understand...

 her mouth articulates in a quiet
quiet and wise despair

Incurable

 

Not knowing which cure to seek

I drag this body through the streets

of an empty city

that I have created

within me

 

through this abandoned void

ceaseless souls

wander without

finding

 

I drag this body through the streets

Gesture of hate tedium terror

that I can not escape

sure inside of the eternal

step that is solitude

 

In an empty city

unclosable dull eyes

scars, distant silhouettes

where the sun wintered

forever, burning

 

(Labyrinth) that I have created

To lock myself

In the time for demons

to laugh slowly

 

Within me, evicted,

Insanity and sense

averse for just one

little truth

 

 

Through this abandoned void

Free, clean, hollow craze

Unreachable and mute

Amongst the thousand faces

of one fall

 

ceaseless souls

won't stop passing

trips without stalling

know how to track

slow motion

 

They wander without

finding

impossible smiles

pollute the air

 

Not knowing which cure to seek.

Valsa

A valsa das nossas mãos
 dança ligeira da musica que ouvimos
palavras que trocamos sem dizer
meu amor passado presente futuro
tempo ao que correspondemos sem viver
nota que passa e para e vibra
 e a qual voltamos
a pertencer











 The waltz of our hands
Light dance of the music we hear
Words that we exchange without saying
My love past present future
time to which we correspond without living
Tune that passes and stops and resonates
And to which we again belong

Grave of the Fireflies

Must we continue to worship gods,
Even if only those who’ve walked on Earth,
Or can we live?

Can we live, o brother
Without their weighty shadows
Can we live, o brother,
Under a sun that doesn’t burn us 
And can we forget the distant light of the stars
And see the fireflies that hover above our open graves?

Regresso

You waited for my dreams
To get sour 
Now you call me friend
There is a longing 
In your sweet distant eyes
And you tell me of books
You read years ago. 
To hear you laugh 
Might make want
To drown in your hair 
Again
To touch all the places
We mapped on our bodies

But I know not to stop,
I smile and walk.

Our skins are still shedding.

Disaggregation

I’ve loved you too much.

I cannot put your body back together.

I have loved you too much.

 

No impenetrable mystery

No indivisible force

Meets me when you

Lose your clothes

On my floor.

 

(Morning Spontani-état)

Des Jours
you'll wake up

Et comme si
a strange ether
had been released

Music will float
through the air
through you

Et tu sera a nouveau
l'etrange memoire
qui a oublié d'oú
elle est venue

puis les jours
that clock creeping
ticking the corners
of your room

recomencerons
and it will give you
that far away rythm
make your heart beat

et le mirroir pourra
a nouveau t'emprisonner
toi qui ne sait plus
de quel côté tu es

to recreate the world
open the doors
open the skies
and wander

oublie, danse, perds toi
seul celui qui se perdera
will one day fall upon
the unroofed morning
when the sun shines
freedom

 

 

Close your eyes and let it linger
the blue crystals of backlight
that sweet way of burning
the curtains to your dreams

Close your eyes and let it linger
hum, forgetting, fading slowly
try, follow that warm bodiless
qui a oublié d'où elle est venue

et sans que tu sache
tu saura où aller

Goddess of hidden signs

Cradle me into my body

Goddess of the hidden signs

Make me myself through you

Cambridge 2011

Soñé

Soñé que de mi ropa

crescian secretos y alumbrados

tus cabellos locos y rubios

 

Y cuando uno recojí

perplexo admiré

mis ojos cambiando de color

 

Y tu voz bailaba en rededor

Mordisqueandome las orejas

 

Y asi como la piel se

hiciera un canal

tu memoria se convirtio en hechizo

 

el misterioso brotar del agua

de una tierra seca

 

 

 

 

I dreamed that from my clothes

secret and lightened

your crazy and blonde hair

was growing

 

And when I picked one up

perplexed I admired

my eyes changing colour

 

And your voice was dancing around

Nibbling my ears

 

And just as the skin

had become a channel

your memory became a spell

 

the mysterious springing

of water from a dry land

Cambridge 2011

Armadilha do Movimento

Armadilha do movimento

Sei bem que aquilo que mais me condenas

é que tão rasteiro, ranço, resgatado sobreviva

Intocável não mas erguido

Orgulhoso não mas vivo

Esfinge continua, pele mineral

Que importa a água turva

que dentro de mim forma

não a alma, mas uma íris ?

Armadilha do movimento


-------------------------

The trap of movement

I am well aware that what you most condemn me for
is that so crawling, rancid, ransomed I survive
not Untouchable but raised
not Proud but alive
continuous Sphinx , mineral skin
What matters the turbid water
that inside of me shapes
not the soul, but an iris?

The trap of movement

 

 

Haiku (1)

Starless night I err

No guidance in the sky

All pagan gods concur

Suspenso

Abrisses mão da pressa

O tempo de novo seda

Passaria a carícia

Pele que sem tocar se sente

O calor que paira

Segurança por ter

Suspensos os lábios

E suspenso o desejo

A palavra encravada

Não deixa de crescer

If you'd open hand from rush
time anew silk
Would pass a caress
Skin that feels without touch

The warmth that hovers
The certainty not had
Suspended lips
And suspended desire

Pave the way, forever quiet,

To merge, entire

The word stuck
Does not stop growing

Janeiro 2013

Esclavage

These days

I wake up tired

And go to bed

Exhausted

 

I dream all day

And I dream in vain

 

I work my life away

For no true gain

 

 

Presences

In a bus tunnelling through dark

Amongst ancient secret stones

Lying under a sleeveless sky

By a naked body in a mirror

between fingers playing clarinet

down an endless empty avenue

around an errant quiet wrist

smiling from unsuspected tiles

breathing on the silent bedspace


Again and again,

the light of your invisible presence

becomes an unbounded sun

September 2011

Acaso

Acaso um dia

tu olhos­de­longe

chegues quando

te possa abraçar



Lábios sem cordas

Te recebam devagar

Seguros, saudosos

de tanto esperar



Acaso um dia

desencontro falhe

o travo amargo

deixe este lugar



Braços abertos

já sem medo

de demorar

alheio, quedo



Acaso um dia

A porta desfeche,

sonho­de­longe,

o desabrochar



Corpos dançando

todas as peças

no seu lugar

te digam



o que eu nunca

sei falar

2012

If we were two, and butterflies
My oh my who knows what skies
We would conquer

at the light of our eyes
The blue plainness of our roofless minds.
The riveted wind of no goodbyes.

Cold Water

"Let me seep under water
And feel its cold immersion
Emerge within me
Feel I wake up alive
At last to smile
And bless your unbearable silence"

Cisne

Talvez sem querer saber quando voltei

Quis saber quando te vinhas

 

Quis saber se pela mesma rua descerias

Que o acaso de uma juventude livre

Dada a dois beijos inteiros e loucos

Como as mãos que se seguram

E entre elas todas as possíveis vidas

De duas mãos inteiras e loucas.

 

Acaso a rua desceste e eu ainda não vinha

Passagem de vento que um sonho sopraria

Era eu, partícula de nada que te espera e te tem

 

Meu amor a que não posso chamar

Meu amor de asas e caminhos grandes

Quando chega a saudade verdadeira?

 

Quando murcham os meus lábios?

Lábios, sonho, desejo, entrelaço

Neles o teu cabelo o teu sorriso

Entre fitas de cores que não há

 

Talvez sem querer saber se te conheço

Quis saber se ainda te sei

 

Quis saber se pela mesma ânsia vagarias

Que o acaso de uma juventude livre

Dada a dois olhos inteiros e loucos

Como mãos que se seguram

E entre elas todas as partes

De dois mistérios infindáveis

 

Acaso a ânsia vagaste e eu não senti

Passagem de vento que um sonho sopraria

Eras tu, invisivelmente vestida de segredos

 

Meu amor a que não posso chamar

Meu amor de asas e caminhos grandes

Quando chega a sedução imperceptível?

 

Quando murcham os nomes?

Nomes, dedos, esperança entrelaço

Neles as tuas pernas e o passo

Entre fitas de cores que não há

Talvez sem querer saber se me terias

Quis saber se me entregara

 

Quis saber se pelo mesmo abraço sentias

Que o acaso de uma juventude livre

Dada a dois braços inteiros e loucos

Como mãos que se seguram

E entre elas todas as almas

De duas almas terem a

Mesma Mão.

 

Acaso o abraço sentias e eu não me perdia

Passagem de vento que um sonho sopraria

Éramos não-sei-se, lua fora de nós

 

Meu amor a que não posso chamar

Meu amor de asas e caminhos grandes

Quando chega a entrega derradeira?

 

Quando murcha o abraço?

Abraço, lonjura, calor entrelaço

Neles os sonhos de te ver

Entre fitas de cores que não há

 

Nampula 2010

Judges

From close they stand

Attempting scrutiny

Eyes they try to gaze

at the soul

In a measure of gesture

from the lining of actions

they pretend to touch

the meaning

Silently they dream of

people as machines

that could be fixed

into rationality

But the soul wanders,

Far from any place

where to be ever

seen

And whilst the Hand

yet lurks searching

it never holds it's

very shadow

Judge ye not

Blindness is not

a righteous sword

nor pure rain

If always the warden

Never the prophet

(that bird always

endangered)

So keep the secrets

you do not know

the box of evils

where hope hides

Judge ye not

Close the doors

to the fields of Hell,

winters of solitude

Let us be flying

unknowingly falling

Let us be lovers

infinite and ephemeral

Condemned to freedom

and lost in meaning

Smiling at the sun

gilding and burning

We are the first humans

Judge us not.

2011

Loose Hands

Not so long ago

It was so easy for us...

to put our hands together

to hold our hands as one

 

Yet now we walk

and our hands dangle

loose they seem inebriated

dancing to their cursed freedom