Saturday, July 23, 2005

From my village

Da minha aldeia vejo quanto da terra se pode ver do Universo…
Por isso a minha aldeia é tão grande como outra terra qualquer,
Porque eu sou do tamanho do que vejo
E não do tamanho da minha altura…

From my village I can see as much earth as can be seen from the Universe…
That is why my village is as big as any other land,
Because I am as big as the things I see
Not as big as the height I stand…

Fernando Pessoa (Alberto Caeiro)

One of my favourite Portuguese poets.
A man is as good as what he sees.
This seeing is not watching, is understanding, groking…
What you learn is what makes you bigger.
Simple.
Beautiful.

8 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

it is SO TRUE! as good as he sees-
you're right all the most profound things are actually so simple
-thanks for putting up the poem

24/7/05 22:34  
Blogger Mike said...

My fiancee introduced me to Fernando Pessoa's writing last year... Excellent stuff. And the more Portuguese I learn, the better it gets. It's just not the same when you read the translations...

25/7/05 06:34  
Blogger DCveR said...

ale: no need to thank

viking: yup, sorry for the translation...

25/7/05 07:12  
Blogger KrisinHawaii said...

I was going to add that I bet hearing it spoken in the Portuguese is beautiful! (One question, though, what's "groking?")

I like the universality of the message.

25/7/05 10:17  
Blogger DCveR said...

It sounds better than in English, but poetry always sounds better in it's original language.

Groking is a term from the book "A Stranger in a Strange Land", from Robert Heinlein, it means something like fully understanding, but the word defines a new concept of understanding. It is hard to explain, reading the book is the best way to understand the concept, it is something like being able to see all aspects to something/everything and at the same time all the implications of those aspects. In a way it's like having God's point of view.

25/7/05 17:54  
Blogger KrisinHawaii said...

You have me inspired...I may just go to Amazon right now.

25/7/05 20:18  
Blogger neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

This reminds me of two things, the tiny flower I found at my gate, and the man you told me about, who never stopped learning.

Isn't Portuguese a musical, beautiful language? Yes, the music gets lost in translation.

26/7/05 01:01  
Blogger DCveR said...

I'd say yes but I may be slightly biased on this
;)

26/7/05 08:23  

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