4 Sonnets - 4 sonetos

4 Sonnets

Este mes de mayo, la revista electrónica Transnational Literature, editada por Gillian Dooley de la Universidad de Flinders en Adelaida (Australia Meridional), acaba de publicar 4 sonetos que escribí a fines de 2010. Puedes descargar el documento en PDF con los 4 sonetos haciendo clic aquí.

Son cuatro sonetos que hablan por sí solos. Pienso que no hace falta explicarlos ni justificarlos, si es que en verdad es necesario justificar la poesía.

A finales del año pasado, posiblemente una noche a principios del mes de octubre (francamente, me falla la memoria) tuve un sueño muy vívido, muy real. Soñé con mi hija Clea, con mi niña. Volvía a estar con ella. Es difícil explicar las sensaciones durante el sueño, y las que sentí al despertar.

Me vino a la cabeza el estribillo de la canción de Antonio Carlos Jobim, A felicidade, que escucho con frecuencia, interpretada por el gran Vinicius de Moraes con Toquinho y Maria Creuza. Dice así:

Tristeza não tem fim

Felicidade sim

Un video de la canción en Youtube…

 Quisiera muchas veces no despertar para poder ser como era antes, para tener al menos la posibilidad de aspirar a la alegría. Tiene mucha razón Jobim: la tristeza no tiene fin. De los cuatro sonetos, este es algo muy, muy especial, y por ello quiero compartirlo en este blog.

Let me forever sleep this peaceful sleep.
Let me forever see her hazel eyes,
hear her giggle, her shrill girly voice keep
with me, relish this memory, the prize

of a lifetime that has become too long.
Let me forever dream this pleasant dream,
and sense her presence, feel that I belong
with her, let myself go down this strange stream

that one day seems to take us all somewhere.
Death took her away from me far too soon.
Where to from here, I honestly don’t care.

Just let me stay with her under this moon,
hold her in my arms, spin her in the air,
with my dear daughter in some timeless swoon.

Transnational Literature, an e-journal edited by Gillian Dooley at Adelaide’s Flinders University has just published 4 sonnets I wrote in late 2010. You can download the PDF with the four sonnets by clicking here.

These four sonnets speak for themselves. I don’t think it necessary to explain or justify them, if indeed it is necessary to justify poetry.

Late last year, possibly on an early October night (to be honest, my memory fails) I had a very vivid dream, a very real dream. I dreamt of my daughter, Clea, my little girl. I was with her again. I cannot explain the sensations I had during my dream, or those I felt upon waking up.

A few hours later I thought of the chorus in a song by Antonio Carlos Jobim’s song, A felicidade, one that I listen to frequently, sung by the great Vinicius de Moraes with Toquinho and Maria Creuza. The chorus line says:

Tristeza não tem fim

Felicidade sim

There are many mornings I’d rather not wake up, so I could be who I was before, so I could at least have the chance of hoping for gladness. Jobim was quite right: sadness never ends. Out of these four sonnets, this one is something very, very special to me, and that’s why I wish to share it here.