Selected Sonnets Read Online

Fulbright Commission which arranged for my year-long lectureship at the University of Coimbra, where I fell under the spell of the generous Portuguese people and the legendary works of their brilliant poet, Luís de Camões.

William Baer

Chronology

O dia em que eu naci moura e pereça,
não o queira jamais o tempo dar;
não torne mais ao mundo e, se tornar,
eclipse nesse passo o Sol padeça.
Aluz lhe falte, o Sol se lhe escureça,
mostre o mundo sinais de se acabar;
naçam-lhe monstros, sangue chova o ar,
a mãe ao próprio filho não conheça.
As pessoas pasmadas, de ignorantes,
as lágrimas no rosto, a côr perdida,
cuidem que o mundo já se destruiu.
Ó gente temerosa, não te espantes,
que este dia deitou ao mundo a vida
mais desventurada que se viu!

Curse

Wipe away, with death, the day of my birth;
may it be forgotten forever, and never
come back in the sweep of time. And if it ever
returns, eclipse the sun and blacken the earth.
Let all light fade and disappear. Let wild
omens reveal that everything must die.
Let monsters be born. Let blood rain from the sky.
Let every mother not recognize her child.
Let all the stunned and terrified people, with tears
streaking down their faces, pale and worn,
believe their world is doomed and overthrown.
You, frightened people, accept these wonders and fears,
for this was the wretched day on which was born
the most miserable life that ever was known.

Como quando do mar tempestuoso
o marinheiro, lasso e trabalhado,
de um naufrágio cruel já salvo a nado,
só ouvir falar nele o faz medroso,
e jura que, em que veja bonançoso
o violento mar e sossegado,
não entre nele mais, mas vai, forçado
pelo muito interesse cobiçoso;
assi, Senhora, eu, que da tormenta
de vossa vista fujo, pro salvar-me,
jurando de não mais em outra ver-me:
minha alma, que de vós nunca se ausenta,
dá-me por preço ver-vos, faz tornar-me
donde fugi tão perto de perder-me.

Shipwreck

Like the weary sailor, the refugee
from wreck and storm, who escapes half-dead,
and then, in terror, shudders with dread
at the very mention of the name of the “sea”;
who swears he’ll never sail again, who raves
he’ll stay at home, even on the calmest days,
but then, in time, forgets his fearful ways,
and seeks, again, his fortune above the waves;
I, too, have barely escaped the storms that revolve
around you, my love, traveling far away,
vowing to avoid another catastrophe,
but I can’t, the thought of you breaks my resolve,
and so, I return to where, on that fateful day,
I nearly drowned in your tempestuous sea.

Enquanto quis Fortuna que tivesse
esperança de algum contentamento,
o gosto de um suave pensamento
me fez que seus efeitos escrevesse.
Porém, temendo Amor que aviso desse
minha escritura a algum juízo isento,
escureceu-me o engenho co tormento,
para que seus enganos não dissesse.
Ó vós, que Amor obriga a ser sujeitos
a diversas vontades! Quando lerdes
num breve livro casos tão diversos,
verdades puras são, e não defeitos . . .
E sabei que, segundo o amor tiverdes,
tereis o entendimento de meus versos.

Reader

As long as Fortune dangled in my sight
the hope of happiness, my wishful schemes
for lasting love and all my youthful dreams
compelled me to lift my pen and write.
But Love, afraid I might prove indiscreet
and reveal her unpleasant truth, ingeniously
obscured my mind and cruelly tormented me,
trying to keep my pen from exposing her deceit.
But you, whom Love has also subjugated
to her fickle will, if you should come across
my verses, this little book of diverse
songs, conceived in experience, created
in truth, remember: the more you’ve loved and lost,
the better you’ll comprehend my verse.

Brandas águas do Tejo que, passando
por estes verdes campos que regais,
plantas, ervas, e flores e animais,
pastores, ninfas ides alegrando;
não sei (ah, doces águas!), não sei quando
vos tornarei a ver; que mágoas tais,
vendo como vos deixo, me causais
que de tornar jávou desconfiando.
Ordenou o Destino, desejoso
de converter meus gostos em pesares,
partida que me vai custando tanto.
Saüdoso de vós, dele queixoso,
encherei de suspiros outros ares,
turbarei outras águas com meu pranto.

Tagus

Gentle waters of the Tagus, you flow
across the fields, nourishing the herds,
the blooming plants, the flowers, and the birds,
delighting the nymphs and shepherds as you go.
Sweet waters of the Tagus, I don’t know when
I’ll ever be able to come back home to you,
and, anxiously, before I say adieu,
I begin to doubt if I’ll ever return again.
Destiny, intent on finding a way
to turn my joys to sorrows, now commands
this difficult parting, full of regrets and fears.
Still longing for you, and complaining, I sail away,
to breathe my sighs in the airs of foreign lands,
disturbing distant waters with my tears.