Primo Basilio

from Joe H - Friday, February 28, 2003
accessed 1287 times

Pablo's great, but let's not neglect our Portuguese and Brazillian poets. This is by Eça De Queiroz, my humble attempt at translation follows.

Tinha suspirado, tinha beijado
o papél devotamente! Era a
primeira vez que lhe escreviam
aquelas sentimentalidades, e o
seu orgulho dilatava-se ao calor
amoroso que saia dela, como um
corpo ressequido que se estira
num banho tépido; sentia um
acréscimo de estimulo por si mesma,
e parecia-lhe que entrava enfim
numa existência superiormente
interessante, onde cada hora
tinha o seu intuito diferente,
cada passo conduzia a um êxtase,
e a alma se cobria de um luxo
radioso de sensações!

Translation:

I had breathed deeply
Kissed the page devotedly
It was the first time that I wrote of these sentiments
And their pride expanded with the loving heat that it gave off
Like a dried body easing itself into a cold bath
It felt a growth of stimulus throughout itself
And seemed to finally enter a far more interesting existence
Where every hour had a distinct purpose
Every step led to extasy
And the soul was covered with a radiant luxury of sensations

(Anyone who speaks Portuguese better than I do is encouraged to point out any shortcomings in my translation, but I should point out that I translate liberally, rather than literally, so what you might call error, I call differences in interpretation)