As I mentioned in my last post, I've been learning a little Portuguese, mainly so I can read things related to Macau. While doing just that- though I confess I can't remember if I first read it in English or Portuguese, though I think it was the latter- I learned about Camilo Pessanha, who spent most of his life in Macau. A poet, lawyer, teacher, and opium addict, Pessanha influenced Fernando Pessoa, had a great beard, and translated some things from Chinese into Portuguese. He died in 1926.
I haven't found any of Pessanha's poetry available in English anywhere, which is a shame, but it works out well for me as it forces me to read it in Portuguese. I've tried my hand at translating one of the sonnets from Clepsidra, the only volume of his poetry published in Pessanha's lifetime. I doubt I'm doing him justice, but so it goes. The English translation follows the Portuguese original (the spelling of which differs from the scanned version of the original book-- Portuguese orthography has changed over the years). Enjoy.
***
Tatuagens complicadas do meu peito:
-- Troféus, emblemas, dois leões alados...
Mais, entre corações engrinaldados,
Um enorme, soberbo, amor-perfeito...
E o meu brasão... Tem de oiro, num quartel
Vermelho, um lis; tem no outro uma donzela,
Em campo azul, de prata o corpo, aquela
Que é no meu braço como que um broquel.
Timbre: rompante, a megalomania...
Divisa: um ai, — que insiste noite e dia
Lembrando ruínas, sepulturas rasas...
Entre castelos serpes batalhantes,
E águias de negro, desfraldando as asas,
Que realça de oiro um colar de besantes!
***
Complicated tattoos on my chest:
—Trophies, emblems, two winged lions...
And, between garlanded hearts,
A huge, magnificent wild pansy.
And my coat of arms... of gold, on a
red quarter, a lily; on the other a maiden,
on a blue field, her body of silver, there
on my arm like a buckler.
My crest: megalomania rampant...
My motto: a sigh — that insists night and day upon
Recalling ruins, shallow graves...
Among castles, battling wyverns,
And black eagles spreading their wings,
a golden necklace of bezants!
