Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Paulo Teixeira

Fulget Crucis Mysterium

These are the house’s cards. The hoisted sails
depart over the vast shield of waters,
writing the joys of an indifferent world.
No joy is lost that’s been engraved in the wrinkles
of an unsuspecting face, the perfect reflection
of a body alert to the audacity of stars on high,
to the brief indulgences of love and innocence:
exhausted, the body awaits the cross (nails, thorns)
that ascends it by the rivers of lusty flesh.

Write, earnest singer, the text of total
privation, love, in this air too heavy to breathe:
sculptures of human lava like far islands
of smoke, in thirsty and impoverished tropics.
Depart over the ocean’s open consonants, reinventing
the hearty laugh, the good omen, the blue world.

Fulget Crucis Mysterium

Fulget Crucis Mysterium

Estas são as cartas de casa. Soltas as velas
que partem sobre o grande escudo das águas
a escrever as alegrias do mundo indiferente.
Nada se perde dessa alegria gravada nas rugas
de um rosto desprevenido. A visão perfeita
de um corpo atento à ousadia das estrelas no alto,
às breves complacências do amor e da inocência:
espera, exausto, o corpo a cruz que lhe sobe
(pregos, espinhos) pelos rios da carne venal.

O texto da privação absoluta escreve, o amor,
sob o ar irrespirável, ó diligente cantor:
esculturas de lava humana como ilhas de fumo
na distância, sob trópicos da penúria e da sede.
Parte sobre as consoantes abertas do oceano a inventar
de novo o riso fácil, o bom presságio, o mundo azul.
Close

Fulget Crucis Mysterium

These are the house’s cards. The hoisted sails
depart over the vast shield of waters,
writing the joys of an indifferent world.
No joy is lost that’s been engraved in the wrinkles
of an unsuspecting face, the perfect reflection
of a body alert to the audacity of stars on high,
to the brief indulgences of love and innocence:
exhausted, the body awaits the cross (nails, thorns)
that ascends it by the rivers of lusty flesh.

Write, earnest singer, the text of total
privation, love, in this air too heavy to breathe:
sculptures of human lava like far islands
of smoke, in thirsty and impoverished tropics.
Depart over the ocean’s open consonants, reinventing
the hearty laugh, the good omen, the blue world.

Fulget Crucis Mysterium

These are the house’s cards. The hoisted sails
depart over the vast shield of waters,
writing the joys of an indifferent world.
No joy is lost that’s been engraved in the wrinkles
of an unsuspecting face, the perfect reflection
of a body alert to the audacity of stars on high,
to the brief indulgences of love and innocence:
exhausted, the body awaits the cross (nails, thorns)
that ascends it by the rivers of lusty flesh.

Write, earnest singer, the text of total
privation, love, in this air too heavy to breathe:
sculptures of human lava like far islands
of smoke, in thirsty and impoverished tropics.
Depart over the ocean’s open consonants, reinventing
the hearty laugh, the good omen, the blue world.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère