Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (November 6, 1919 – July 2, 2004) was an award-winning Portuguese poet and writer.

Quotes

• Lisbon, that name of being and non-being
  With its secret meanders of amazement, insomnia, and tin shacks
  And secret glitter of something theatrical
  Its conniving smile of intrigue and masks
  While the wide ocean dilates west
  Lisbon rocking like a great boat
  Lisbon cruelly built along its own absence
  • "Lisbon", in Marine Rose: Selected Poems (1988), trans. Ruth Fainlight, p. 59.

O Nome das Coisas (1977)

This is the dawn I waited for
The new day clean and whole
When we emerge from night and silence
To freely inhabit the substance of time

• Esta é a madrugada que eu esperava
  O dia inicial inteiro e limpo
  Onde emergimos da noite e do silêncio
  E livres habitamos a substância do tempo
  • This is the dawn I waited for
    The new day clean and whole
    When we emerge from night and silence
    To freely inhabit the substance of time
  • "25 de Abril" ("25th April 1974"), in Log Book: Selected Poems, trans. ‎Richard Zenith (Carcanet, 1997), p. 78

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen on Wikipedia
• Media related to Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen on Wikimedia Commons
• Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen at Poetry International Web