Herring-Hawker's Cry

If I could take a bite of the whole earth
And get a taste of it,
I’d be happier for a moment….
But I don’t always want to be happy.
One must be unhappy now and then
Just to be able to be natural….

Not every day is fair,
And even when there’s drought, you look for rain.
That’s why I take the happy with the sad
Naturally, like someone not surprised
There are mountains and plains,
Rocks and grass….

One must be natural and easy,
Take the happy with the sad,
Feel as one who looks,
Think as one who walks,
And, when it’s time to die, remember the day dies too,
And the sunset is beautiful, and beautiful too the enduring night….
That’s how it is, and so be it….

—

Fernando Pessoa, writing as Alberto Caeiro, “XXI. If I could take a bite of the whole earth,” The Keeper of Sheep, tr. Honig & Brown (Sheep Meadow Press, 1986), 33.

Thanks to tragos for the Tumblr complit staff pick.

Posted March 4, 2010 at 5:59pm || home

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