MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

MORNING SEED

I was born out of a morning

seed

in the gardens of dew,

I was born out of the wind

as a gentle breeze.

I live in my body,

and in the outside.

No place is my home,

I hide in silence

and weave my song in looms

of darkness.

My bliss is to wander like

a skeleton of blue,

chasing the words, your voice,

the stars,

the flesh of the night,

healing my scars

in violet flowers,

magic charms, whirling dances

and tattoos of birds

in strange hues

of an ancient paradise.

MYRISTICA FRAGRANS

You came from the unknown

balconies, from marine sceneries,

from the mist and the finest dust,

from the depth of memory.

And you grow in the crimson night

as a flower of salt.

You came from the darkest

side of heaven.

You are the bright shade of music.

Your hands are like seaweed.

You are a tender smile, a deep blue sky,

a dark-leaved evergreen tree,

a Paradise that I have never lived.

You are like a handful of verses,

spices mixed in a honeyed wine.

Your bosom is a bed of petals,

a calming lullaby,

a sweet fragrance, an inebriating potion.

You are the dew of a distant land

where lushness grows in the morning sap

of mace and nutmeg

on a gorgeous branch

of Myristica fragrans.

THE PIGEON

On the boarding pier,

I watch the waters flow.

I would like to leave, to stay.

A pigeon comes to my sight,

reigning over turbulent waters,

standing on muddy, salty

and wet stones.

I take its breath,

losing myself in green glimpses

of silver on its feathers.

I´m ready to stay, to fly,

taking some rest.

Flying in a morning sky,

I leave the pier, moving my song,

keeping my way.

Meanwhile, the pigeon casts

a quiet glance over the troubled

blue and golden bay.

SUNSET

Fishermen on a beach,

people at work;

I can also see the trees,

the sun,

a boat with a crane

faraway in the sea.

In the evening dusk,

I felt the ink of spells,

an urging song.

Silhouettes of palm trees

were carved in my mind,

deep in my brain.

Sunset was a golden embrace

of gentle shadows,

scents of a mysterious world

blurring my sight,

a musical whelk

coming into my blood.

 

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO (Portugal) is a medical doctor and a multilingual poet, translator, essayist and researcher in Portuguese and German Literature, translations studies and History of Medicine. She has authored 45 books of poetry, published in Portugal, Brazil, Spain, France, Serbia, Belgium, Albany, USA, and translations and essays. Her poems are translated into over twenty languages. She was awarded the Prize ‘Prayer for Mother Teresa? Gjokovë, Kosovo 2019.

PHOTO CREDIT: FRANCISCO BARATA