Poem

Carlos de Oliveira

Side by side

An Instant

This column
of firmer syllables,
this flame
on the summit of the dunes
flaring
for just a moment,
this balance
so close to beauty,
this poem
just before
the wind.

Instante

Esta coluna
de sílabas mais firmes,
esta chama
no vértice das dunas
fulgurando
apenas um momento,
este equilíbrio
tão perto da beleza,
este poema
anterior
ao vento.

Carlos de Oliveira

(Portugal, 1921 - 1981)

The son of Portuguese emigrants to Brazil, Carlos de Oliveira was born in Belém do Pará in 1921. Two years later the family returned to Portugal, settling in a rural district northwest of Coimbra. It was in Coimbra that the writer went to high school and then on to university, graduating in History and Philosophy with a thesis titled Contribution to a Neo-Realist Aesthetics. That was in 1947, t...

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Poems of Carlos de Oliveira

An Instant

This column
of firmer syllables,
this flame
on the summit of the dunes
flaring
for just a moment,
this balance
so close to beauty,
this poem
just before
the wind.

An Instant

This column
of firmer syllables,
this flame
on the summit of the dunes
flaring
for just a moment,
this balance
so close to beauty,
this poem
just before
the wind.