Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Camilo Pessanha

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses:
The first wind stripped them of their petals…
Why this brooding, my love? Why cut off          
Your voices that so lately fooled me?

Castles in the air, so swiftly razed!
Where are we going without thinking,
Hands locked? Your eyes, which briefly
Studied mine, how they look sad!

The snow showers us, a wedding feast,
Its silently triumphant petals coating
The ground, in the acropolis of ice.
 
It swaddles your face like a veil!
Who on high is sprinkling all these flowers      
On our hair, on the two of us?      

Floriram por engano as rosas bravas

Floriram por engano as rosas bravas

No inverno: veio o vento desfolhá-las…
Em que cismas, meu bem? Porque me calas
As vozes com que ha pouco me enganavas?

Castelos doidos! Tão cedo caístes!...
Onde vamos, alheio o pensamento,
De mãos dadas? Teus olhos, que um momento
Perscrutaram nos meus, como vão tristes!

E sobre nós cai nupcial a neve,
Surda, em triunfo, pétalas, de leve
Juncando o chão, na acrópole de gelos…

Em redor do teu vulto é como um véu!
¿Quem as esparze — quanta flor! —, do céu,
Sobre nós dois, sobre os nossos cabelos?
Close

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses:
The first wind stripped them of their petals…
Why this brooding, my love? Why cut off          
Your voices that so lately fooled me?

Castles in the air, so swiftly razed!
Where are we going without thinking,
Hands locked? Your eyes, which briefly
Studied mine, how they look sad!

The snow showers us, a wedding feast,
Its silently triumphant petals coating
The ground, in the acropolis of ice.
 
It swaddles your face like a veil!
Who on high is sprinkling all these flowers      
On our hair, on the two of us?      

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses

Fooled into bloom, the wild winter roses:
The first wind stripped them of their petals…
Why this brooding, my love? Why cut off          
Your voices that so lately fooled me?

Castles in the air, so swiftly razed!
Where are we going without thinking,
Hands locked? Your eyes, which briefly
Studied mine, how they look sad!

The snow showers us, a wedding feast,
Its silently triumphant petals coating
The ground, in the acropolis of ice.
 
It swaddles your face like a veil!
Who on high is sprinkling all these flowers      
On our hair, on the two of us?      
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