Cecília Meireles

I have phases...

Cecília Benevides de Carvalho Meireles (7 November 1901 – 9 November 1964; born and died in Rio de Janeiro) was an educator and Portuguese-language writer, known principally as a poet.

Quotes

• "Introduction"
  Here is my heritage:
  This solitary sea —
  On one side it was love
  And on the other forgetfulness.
  • translated from the original Portuguese into English by John Nist in Modern Brazilian Poetry: An Anthology (1962)

• "Motivo"
  Eu canto porque o instante existe
  e a minha vida está completa.
  Não sou alegre nem sou triste:
  sou poeta.
  • (fragment from) "Motive"
    I sing because the moment exists
    and my life is complete.
    I’m not happy and I’m not sad:
    I’m a poet.
  • translation into English by Natalie d'Arbeloff

• "Retrato"
  Eu não dei por esta mudança,
  tão simples, tão certa, tão fácil:
  – Em que espelho ficou perdida
  a minha face?
  • (fragment from) "Portrait"
    I didn’t expect this transformation,
    so simple, so sure, so easy:
    — In which mirror did I lose
    my face?
  • translation into English by Natalie d'Arbeloff

• "Lua Adversa"
  Tenho fases, como a lua.
  Fases de andar escondida,
  fases de vir para a rua…
  Perdição da minha vida!
  Perdição da vida minha!
  Tenho fases de ser tua,
  tenho outras de ser sozinha.
  • (fragment from) "Contrary Moon"
    I have phases, like the moon.
    Phases to hide myself,
    phases to walk the street…
    Perdition!
    Perdition!
    I have phases of being yours,
    and others of being solitary.
  • translation into English by Natalie d'Arbeloff

External links

• GoodReads page
• Vidas Lusófonas page (translated into English)
• Poems translated into English
• "Contrary Moon: three poems by Cecília Meireles" from Via Negativa
• "Three Poems, Translated by Dean Thomas Ellis" in The Ex-Puritan