MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

 

 

Morning Words

 

My body is an island of verses,

an unknown land, a bluebird,

a yellow rose, a swept shore,

a breeze of clouds,

a destiny tattooed with amethysts

and crystal

where I write under a foggy lamp.

Each morning it inspires the words

that touch its deserts

with images that burn in the blood:

the full fountains, the invisible paths,

and the secret gardens

where the blinding moon screams

madly

its serpents of light.

 

Northern Lights

 

The body remains whole and resilient

as it strikes against the unyielding pillars

of unresponsive barometers.

It sails through the icy light of invisible icebergs

that slice through hulls and break masts.

Yet, in the fading remnants of divinity,

with verses in your eyes, you can still breathe,

drenched in the rain.

When you write your nocturnal lines,

loneliness erupts,

invoking the presence of God

in the sphinx-like centre of a northern light

 

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

 

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO, from Portugal, is a medical doctor and a multilingual poet who has received multiple national and international awards and literary recognitions. She is also a translator, essayist, and researcher in Portuguese and German literature, translation studies, and the history of medicine, with an extensive literary background that includes over forty published works, comprising poetry, translations, and essays. Her poems have been translated into more than thirty languages.