Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 17

17


entre cisnes e gaivotas
interrogo-me sobre o diálogo

dos sons
ao silêncio do voo.


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17


between swans and seagulls
I wonder about the dialogue

of sounds
in the silence of flight.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 16

16


andava como louco
na cidade
distribuindo as rosas
     que não via

olhava desvairado
as mãos vazias
dos desejos e sonhos
     que não tinha

batia a cada porta
que encontrava
em busca dum sorriso
ou da resposta
     que sabia

fechou-se na ilusão
do seu castelo
feito lodo
     da baía

escravo liberto
em sinal de protesto
consumiu seu tempo
     agrilhoado

na popa estreita
do seu barco
     ancorado

ali ficou
até ao pôr do sol
no balanço da brisa
     a soluçar

feito de sal
     e mar.


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16


like a madman you wandered
the city
handing out roses
     that you didn't see

you looked demented
hands empty
of the desires and dreams
     that you didn't have

you knocked at each door
that you found
in search of a smile
or the answer
     you knew

you locked yourself in the illusion
of your castle
made of silt
     from the bay

a freed slave
in a sign of protest
you spent your time
     in chains

at the narrow stern
of your anchored
     ship

there you stayed
until sundown
swaying in the breeze
     sobbing

made of salt
     and sea.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 15

In this translation I used both meanings of "tempo" in order to more fully express the poem's nautical scope. I'm still not sure I got it right, though.

It only occurred to me today to look up Estima de Oliveira's Chinese name, which I found in the Antologia de Poetas de Macau /  澳門中葡詩歌選 from 1999. It's 柯添文, or o1 tim1 man4 in Cantonese.

Até próximo, car@ leitor/a.

DAS

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15

contemplo
o tempo

dos rios
a distância
do alto das montanhas

o longe
a linha do infinito

    o mar
    a vela
    o mastro
    o casco

é tempo de pensar

    marinheiro.


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15


i contemplate
the weather

the distance
from the rivers
from the mountaintops

far away
the infinite horizon

    sea
    sail
    mast
    hull

it's time to think

    sailor.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 14

14


há sempre solto
um fio

nem sempre
uma amarra
amarra


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14

there's always a loose
thread

not always
a secured
mooring line

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 13

Another tricky one, mainly due to the difficulty of rendering Portuguese wordplay into English. I encountered this problem over and over when I translated Virgílio de Lemos' book of poems Para Fazer um Mar (which I should post here, since I doubt my translation will ever get published), and I couldn't solve it then, either. Part of it is due to my own lack of skill, but I think it's just very, very hard to do in the first place.

Take the first two lines, for example: "ar mar / armar" - the first is clear the latter broken in two, but it's also two distinct words on its own. I can't think of any English words for "air" and "sea" that can be combined to form a word meaning "raise" or "erect" or "build." Now imagine reading this poem in translation without the Portuguese original available. It wouldn't be totally incomprehensible, but you wouldn't think it was a good poem, either. With the Portuguese text included, you at least get the sense of what Oliveira is doing, even if you might not understand it.

There's other stuff going on, but I'll leave it here for now. I just wanted to point out some basic translation issues that are as old as the Tower of Babel.

DAS


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13

ar mar
armar
o cerco

arriba

ala ala
alar
a vela
ao vento

navegar
no tempo.


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13

air sea
raise
the net

pull in

heave heave
hoist
the sail
to the wind

sail
through time.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 12

 This one's a little perplexing. The first stanza makes me think he's watching someone in a rowboat, or maybe on foot, picking through the dregs of low tide, but the second stanza really throws me off. I'm not happy with this translation, but it's all I've got at the moment.

 

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12

não sei como se chama
reconheço-lhe somente
a silhueta ao longe
cercando o rio
    na maré baixa
filtrando o lodo
na gandaia do peixe

joelho na prancha
pedala o mundo
em rotação do tempo.


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12

i don't know his name
i only recognize
his silhouette from afar
circling the river
    at low tide
picking through the mud
as the fish gallivant about

knee on the board
he rides through the world
as time spins on.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 11

Feliz ano novo, y'all. 2022 was a tempestuous year for your humble Corpse, but not in an entirely bad way. Let's see what 2023 holds.

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11

submerso
o navio

vela bamba
ao sabor da corrente.


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11

sunken
ship

sail fluttering
in the current.