Don't Kill Yourself [by Carlos Drummond de Andrade; selected by Stacey Lehman]

I was looking through my copy of Elizabeth Bishop's The Complete Poems: 1927-1979 for the publication date of "One Art" so I could respond to Dean Rader's challenge when I found Bishop's translation of this moving poem. -- SDH 

Don't Kill Yourself 

Carlos, keep calm, love
is what you're seeing now;
today a kiss, tomorrow no kiss,
day after day tomorrow's Sunday
and nobody knows what will happen
Monday.

It's useless to resist
or to commit suicide.
Don't kill yourself. Don't kill yourself!
Keep all of yourself for the nuptials
coming nobody knows when,
that is, if they ever come.

Love, Carlos, tellurian,
spent the night with you,
and now your insides are raising
an ineffable racket,
prayers,
victrolas,
saints crossing themselves,
ads for better soap,
a racket of which nobody
knows the why or wherefor.

In the meantime, you go on your way
vertical, melancholy.
You're the palm tree, you're the cry
nobody heard in the theatre
and all the lights went out.
Love in the dark, no, love
in the daylight, is always sad,
sad, Carlos, my boy,
but tell it to nobody,
nobody knows nor shall know.

-- Carlos Drummond de Andrade (tr. Elizabeth Bishop)

from the archive; first posted November 10, 2010

Comments

[Emily Fragos]

Oh, what a dazzling poem! Magnificent. I don't know the original, but this translation by Bishop sounds very fine and natural to me. Thank you so much, dear Stacey, for posting this. I am suddenly reminded of the honest, penetrating power of great poetry.