SAIBA

Because we don’t want to hear about

the things that join us together

the things we all share

The unavoidable, precious commonalities

The natural, the ugly, the precious and the monstrous

(Yes, what makes us human)

Because we don’t want to recognize our multiple natures

that we are home for evil and good

that we can lead or go astray

kill and love

destroy and nurture

and all there is in between

When and if we get aware

of our simple precious humanity

that makes us the ultimate family

we will forgive all

we won’t blame the Other

we will sooth each other

and help each other to understand

to really KNOW

We will learn to see the common and not the difference

We will accept we are not better than anybody else

We will realize our names rhyme with everybody else’s

Saiba: todo mundo foi neném
Einstein, Freud e Platão também
Hitler, Bush e Saddam Hussein
Quem tem grana e quem não tem

Saiba: todo mundo teve infância
Maomé já foi criança
Arquimedes, Buda, Galileu
e também você e eu

Saiba: todo mundo teve medo
Mesmo que seja segredo
Nietzsche e Simone de Beauvoir
Fernandinho Beira-Mar

Saiba: todo mundo vai morrer
Presidente, general ou rei
Anglo-saxão ou muçulmano
Todo e qualquer ser humano

Saiba: todo mundo teve pai
Quem já foi e quem ainda vai
Lao-Tsé, Moisés, Ramsés, Pelé
Gandhi, Mike Tyson, Salomé

Saiba: todo mundo teve mãe
Índios, africanos e alemães
Nero, Che Guevara, Pinochet
e também eu e você

HANDLING FARES

Look at my hands
Just look at them

In my hands
all the wisdom there is
all the beauty

No compromise there
my faithful hands
are mine

If a choose not to raise them
not to know the asnwers
they'll stay still on my desk
pretending ignorance

Should you need answers
don't look elsewhere
look at them

Look at my hands

UM AMOR

steps can sing

words can vow silence

eyes can touch

stillness can be frantic

humour can be fire

your heartbeat can go crazy

time can stop still

a scent can ignite

a dream can sooth

a man can cry

a lover will find

a wanderer can rest

a road can twist

a silence can move

            A spark can fly

UM AMOR (MAria João, Mário Laginha)

Eu lhe ouvi entrar
vi no seu olhar
que estava querendo me atormentar

E reagi sem ver
coração tocando o céu da boca
minha alma louca
Ai minha voz saindo
andando sem roupa
nua de palavras

Queimando de intenção
digo afogueada
algo sem retorno e sem razão
Foi como se pegasse fogo em fria agua
como se empurrasse a escuridão,
como se iluminasse
meu amor ficasse pertinho
jurando servidão.

LUA LINDA

Olha a lua partida ao meio
de tão baixinha que está
quase leva as copas das árvores
e o cabelo dos homens altos.

Se eu fosse muito guloso
comia esta lua em forma de queijo.

Olha a nuvem, a nuvem branca
quer tapar o nosso queijo
nuvem gorda e sem vergonha
invejosa da luz da lua.

Tu já viu que esta noite não tem vento?

Olha a lua partida ao meio
se eu pudesse sentava nela
e ficava espiando a terra
e me via olhando ela!

MAKING PLANS (III)

Remember

I’m the one guiding the feather

Yet (alas!)

 this feather has retained

some autonomy

from its owner’s ecstatic and pompous majesty…

You can’t avoid that sometimes,

and I tell you in advance:

that can even be a desirable thing

Now open  your eyes

If you so wish

You know how a peacock feather

can be mesmerizing to watch

Or then close your eyelids to save yourself

for other things to come

That should be for you to decide


see Making Plans (I) e Making Plans (II)

VERY TOUCHING

Ears tend to think they know it all

(but no they don’t)

Fingers can be enlightened listeners as well,

for they share

         the secret brotherhood

                     the ancestral wisdom

                                    the touching knowledge

Believe me:

Like white virgins, 
your ears would blush

if they knew 
just a tiny fraction of

your fingers’ 
                 accumulated 
                                    wisdom

MAKING PLANS (II)

Good

You know peacocks are not regular fliers

No, they’re not.

Nonetheless, through the years

they developed somehow

the selective art of flying to trees

(I like digressing because

I can sense you are listening,

and digressions might be

essential 

      after all

             anyway)

See Making Plans (I)

MAKING PLANS (I)

Close your eyes

but keep reading

I’m not asking the impossible,

you understand,

for I meant  your inner eyes

Now picture a feather

not a swan’s, not a goose’s

Their feathers may be good for pillows,

or so I‘ve heard,

but for you I want

nothing but the peacock’s

THE LOVER

Venturing further away

no fear of going astray

For your aim is nothing

but  the future