Livro do Desassossego of Fernando Pessoa (1888 -1935)
The following poems are an attempt to put passages from the Book of Disquite (translation of Fernando Pessoa’s Livro do Desassossego) into free verse. The numbers at the end of poems refer to the passages in Margaret Jull Costa and Richard Zenith renditions of the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything is absurd
Everything is absurd.
a man spends his life earning money and saving,
yet he has no children to give to
and no hope the heaven will bring
him the rewards of his toils once dead.
Another man tries hard to be famous
to be remembered once dead,
yet he does not believe
in the survival of the soul,
to let him know of the fame.
Yet another wears himself out to death,
doing things he does not even like.
And there is the man who...
One man wants to know,
He reads but all in vain.
Another enjoys himself to live,
Again all in vain.
113(163)MJC
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We never love anyone
We never love anyone.
What we really love is
the idea of someone we have.
And we love our own selves –
our perceptions of ourselves.
In sexual love we seek
pleasures through the lover’s body.
In non-sexual love we seek
pleasures through our own concepts.
The masturbator though seemingly abject,
is the best lover to express love for himself,
the only one who never feigns,
the only one who doesn’t fool himself.
Deceptive and complex are the expressions of love.
As abstract are the shared words and gestures of lovers,
They think in different flavors and fragrances
Coloring their ideas forming, their impressions.
So when one says to another: I love you
Both may have a different idea of what love is.
So their meeting becomes a non-meeting
And love means not the same thing.
Understanding is the wearing thing.
Living is not thinking.
112 RZ
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Advice to unhappily married women (III)
Dear women,
Follow faithfully my advice
to indulge in the sexual pleasures
with the man your womb and name is tied.
Only by digging its feet in the ground,
the bird takes off its flight.
May this always remind you
of the spiritual commandment in sight:
To achieve the highest sensuality,
you’ve to be the lewdest slut imaginable
and yet, never unfaithful to your husband,
not even with your eyes .
Be a slut on the inside.
Be unfaithful on the inside,
Cheat him as you hug and kiss him
with kisses that aren’t meant for him!
O superior women,
O my mysterious cerebral followers,
that’s how you reach the heights
of sensuality still being faithful on the outside.
Why should a man not follow this advice?
For he is a creature of a different kind.
If inferior, let him seduce women
As many as he can in contempt.
If superior, he needs no women.
Sensuality he can have
Without sexually possessing them,
Alien even to superior women
Woman is a sexual creature, essentially.
page 397 RZ
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything is absurd
Everything is absurd.
a man spends his life earning money and saving,
yet he has no children to give to
and no hope the heaven will bring
him the rewards of his toils once dead.
Another man tries hard to be famous
to be remembered once dead,
yet he does not believe
in the survival of the soul,
to let him know of the fame.
Yet another wears himself out to death,
doing things he does not even like.
And there is the man who...
One man wants to know,
He reads but all in vain.
Another enjoys himself to live,
Again all in vain.
113(163)MJC
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We never love anyone
We never love anyone.
What we really love is
the idea of someone we have.
And we love our own selves –
our perceptions of ourselves.
In sexual love we seek
pleasures through the lover’s body.
In non-sexual love we seek
pleasures through our own concepts.
The masturbator though seemingly abject,
is the best lover to express love for himself,
the only one who never feigns,
the only one who doesn’t fool himself.
Deceptive and complex are the expressions of love.
As abstract are the shared words and gestures of lovers,
They think in different flavors and fragrances
Coloring their ideas forming, their impressions.
So when one says to another: I love you
Both may have a different idea of what love is.
So their meeting becomes a non-meeting
And love means not the same thing.
Understanding is the wearing thing.
Living is not thinking.
112 RZ
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Advice to unhappily married women (III)
Dear women,
Follow faithfully my advice
to indulge in the sexual pleasures
with the man your womb and name is tied.
Only by digging its feet in the ground,
the bird takes off its flight.
May this always remind you
of the spiritual commandment in sight:
To achieve the highest sensuality,
you’ve to be the lewdest slut imaginable
and yet, never unfaithful to your husband,
not even with your eyes .
Be a slut on the inside.
Be unfaithful on the inside,
Cheat him as you hug and kiss him
with kisses that aren’t meant for him!
O superior women,
O my mysterious cerebral followers,
that’s how you reach the heights
of sensuality still being faithful on the outside.
Why should a man not follow this advice?
For he is a creature of a different kind.
If inferior, let him seduce women
As many as he can in contempt.
If superior, he needs no women.
Sensuality he can have
Without sexually possessing them,
Alien even to superior women
Woman is a sexual creature, essentially.
page 397 RZ
--------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by Ravi Kopra at 6:34 AM
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