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Through the Silence

Through the silence that involved her, for that
apparent unreached distance,
for the way of her hair
tossed upon a dark night:

for the immobility that begins
to take her away from perhaps human life
giving us the habit of seeing her
between stars of space and madness;

for the small stars and satellites
forming on the hair a crown
to illuminate her gracious mantle,

you that assume extinct Mira-Celi
look at this map the living poem
that is the hidden life of an eternal infanta.

Notes

To read the original in Portuguese click here
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/121778-Jorge-de-Lima-Pelo-sil-ncio

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Comments


  • Peteskid
    August 6, 2008
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    some magnificent phrasings here, so very appealing filled with thoughtful depth in this imagery..I sense a cosmic frame work to stars and eternal things...a very difficult translation here, many ideas religious and symbolic ideas to consider...a well done to Marigoes...in a difficult set of words and meanings...PK


  • Yemassee
    August 4, 2008
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    Eternal Infanta...I can assume the meaning there. There seems to be some feeling of death here, but maybe not a literal one, or maybe it's more than one meaning. It seems a slow ebbing, a dying star.

    I won't bother to speculate any further because whenever I do on these translations MariGoes ends up telling me what it really means, so I'll just sit here and wait...

    And thanks MariGoes for another translation.

    • Peteskid
      August 30, 2008
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      the eternal infanta... i read some scholarly pieces on this and Mira-Celi in Portuguese and two in english, and i have reached two conclusions: you have focused on the same parts as these scholars; de Lima was brilliant and complex, his imagery reached deep into his personality and imagination to find parallels between the real world and spiritual existence. He used female ideations as a muse [inspiration]in a sense but much more, personified, humanized, yet essentially spiritual existences...tied clearly and strongly to Catholic ideology, Mira-celi, eterna infanta, and blessed beloved were three incarnations of this feminine ideal. Anyway, your comment was, i think, right on the important point of all of this ...PK