Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










Untitled by José Luís Peixoto

Translated by Hugo dos Santos

 
 
pretending that everything is fine: the body ripped and dressed
in ironed clothes, remnants of flames inside
the body, desperate screams under the conversations: pretending
that everything is fine: you look at me and only you know: in the street
where our stares meet it is night: people
don’t imagine: people are so ridiculous, so
deplorable: people talk and don’t imagine: we
look at ourselves: pretending that everything is fine: the blood boiling
beneath the skin equal to the days before everything, storms of
fear on smiling lips: will i die?, i ask
inside of myself: will i die?, you look at me and only you know:
hot irons, fire, silence and rain that cannot be described:
love and death: pretending that everything is fine: having to smile: an
ocean that burns us, a fire that drowns us.