Thursday, September 09, 2004

Truth... Truth is like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold. Stretch it, pull it, it will never cover any of us. Kick at it, beat at it, it will never be enough...From the moment we enter crying to the moment we leave dying, it will cover just your head as you wail and cry and scream.

dead poets society
"I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. "

henry david thoreau
John Keating : We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

dead poets society
John Keating : They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

dead poets society

Friday, September 03, 2004

As I Walked Out One Evening
As I walked out one evening,
Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat.
And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
'Love has no ending.
'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,
'I'll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.
'The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.'
But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
'O let not Time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time.
'In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.
'In headaches and in worry
Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.
'Into many a green valley
Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
And the diver's brilliant bow.
'O plunge your hands in water,
Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
And wonder what you've missed.
'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead.
'Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
And Jill goes down on her back.
'O look, look in the mirror?
O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
Although you cannot bless.
'O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'
It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.

W.H. Auden

XXIX

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless criesAnd look upon myself and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

William Shakespeare
Sê paciente; espera
que a palavra amadureça
e se desprenda como um fruto
ao passar o vento que a mereça.

Eugénio de Andrade

Sê tu a palavra

1.Sê tu a palavra,branca rosa brava.2.Só o desejo é matinal.3.Poupar o coração é permitir à morte coroar-se de alegria.4.Morre de ter ousado na água amar o fogo.5.Beber-te a sede e partir- eu sou de tão longe.6.Da chama à espada o caminho é solitário.7.Que me quereis,se me não dais o que é tão meu?

Eugénio de Andrade
Procura a maravilha.Onde um beijo sabea barcos e bruma.No brilho redondoe jovem dos joelhos.Na noite inclinadade melancolia.Procura.Procura a maravilha.


Eugénio de Andrade

é urgente

É urgente o amor.
É urgente um barco no mar.
É urgente destruir certas palavras,
ódio, solidão e crueldade,
alguns lamentos,muitas espadas.
É urgente inventar alegria,
multiplicar os beijos, as searas,
é urgente descobrir rosas e rios
e manhãs claras.
Cai o silêncio nos ombros e a luzimpura, até doer.
É urgente o amor, é urgente
permanecer.

Eugénio de Andrade

A Minha Solidão


A Minha Solidão
(Durante dias andei ruminar estes versos.)

A minha solidão
não é uma invenção
para enfeitar noites estreladas...

...Mas este querer arrancar a própria sombra do chão
e ir com ela pelas ruas de mãos dadas.

...Mas este sufocar entre coisas mortas
e pedras de frio
onde nem sequer há portas
para o Calafrio.

...Mas este rir-me de repente
no poço das noites amarelas...
- única chama consciente
com boca nas estrelas.

...Mas este eterno Só-Um
(mesmo quando me queima a pele o teu suor)
- sem carne em comum
com o mundo em redor.

...Mas este haver entre mim e a vida
sempre uma sombra que me impede
de gozar na boca ressequida
o sabor da própria sede.

...Mas este sonho indeciso
de querer salvar o mundo
- e descobrir afinal que não piso
o mesmo chão do pobre e do vagabundo.

...Mas este saber que tudo me repele
no vento vestido de areia...
E até, quando a toco, a própria pele
me parece alheia.

Não. A minha solidão
não é uma invenção
para enfeitar o céu estrelado...

...mas este deitar-me de súbito a chorar no chão
e agarrar a terra para sentir um Corpo Vivo a meu lado.


José Gomes Ferreira

(O soneto que só errado ficou certo)

VIVAM APENAS!

Vivam Apenas

Vivam, apenas
Sejam bons como o sol.
Livres como o vento.
Naturais como as fontes

Imitem as árvores dos caminhos
que dão flores e frutos
sem complicações.

Mas não queiram convencer os cardos
a transformar os espinhos
em rosas e canções.

E principalmente não pensem na Morte.
Não sofram por causa dos cadáveres
que só são belos
quando se desenham na terra em flores.

Vivam, apenas.
A Morte é para os mortos!

José Gomes Ferreira