When, suddenly, I notice the largeness of the horizons,
and all beauty they unceasingly frame our world.
When, tender and dreamlike resting tonight,
I always see her face before asleep.
When I enjoy full air all the day long,
missing it when she approaches me.
Then, I think, this means I must be in love.
But with whom, I have no doubt that
nor to the walls should I reveal.
This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©
We found ourselves in the deserted streets,
and twinned in the challenge and fearlessness
to the enacted isolation.
Compelled by the oddity of the moment,
we delighted in such a privacy,
fruit and reward for our boldness.
Our love blossomed, suddenly and calmly,
honest, pure and original,
– secluded inhabitants, entrusted by destiny –
to start a new world.
Let time stop, give this dream a lot of rope,
like the new toy we get for Christmas.
Don’t be lost the magic, take root in the ground,
bathe in the water that blesses, baptizes and revives.
Let it be heir to the best of our stories,
the best of our hopes.
Published in Subterranean Blue Poetry, March 01, 2021.
Translated in French as Réécriter Le Paradis, published in Poésie Bleue Souterraine, March 01, 2021.
Sitting by the road’s edge, I watch life go by.
I see men, women, old and young people,
companions on our journey, the pilgrimage
we have embarked on, since forgotten ages.
They carry in their faces their realities and, beyond,
I try to imagine what really lead them to move on,
but cannot be seen: their well-kept secrets and desires,
their high esteem, their own motto, their ego.
They are striving to be individuals,
rather than simply one more.
Sometimes I see even myself,
mixed in the crowd, perhaps a little lost,
but firmly believing to be on the walk too.
I feel we are all connected in an invisible web
and hope we will reach, each at their own time,
that promised and dreamed land,
where happiness dwells, milk and honey spill,
and evil never finds shelter.
Published in Red Wolf Journal, March 21, 2020
http://www.redwolfjournal.wordpress.com
This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©
Sometimes a well-intentioned soul calls up,
or even comes to me personally,
claiming to have found, in improper and improbable place,
references or things that certainly belonged to me.
I answer I do not need them, I do not miss that,
keep them where they were found.
They are pieces of myself that I had to leave
by the paths I have travelled in my life,
penalties imposed by my fellow ones,
by sudden, irrepressible and irrefutable passions,
born in a simple, loving and thoughtless heart.
Pieces that prove I did not refuse not even a little
of the portion I must share in my human condition:
I lived, suffered, loved; left my journey well marked.
Published in Red Wolf Journal, March 18, 2020.
My dead, those I loved in life,
I do not bury them.
They remain forever unburied,
at least as long as I can stay alive.
When I die, they will be buried beside me.
I am sure they know this, knowing also
I am still counting on their help and support.
We talk about everything and everyone,
we laugh, weep, love and hate;
they rest with me at night and give me strength,
at the dawn of a new day.
Every victory of mine, they applaud and rejoice,
as faithful crowd, that accompanies their team.
Morbid desires, unnatural cravings, some will say.
But no, it is just great and honest one love, a pure one,
that understands and consoles me on certain days.
Days full with doubts, shadows and ill feelings,
those that fate has marked for me,
which, by sure, I will not be able to avoid.
Published in Poetry Poetics Pleasure, March 2021 issue
Today I am remembering the voices I have been hearing,
which are recorded in my memory:
the first cry of the newborn, searching to be noticed
in the new world in which they are starting;
the last cry of pain from the dying,
saying goodbye to those who remain;
by the summer, the geese’s hisses and
the buzzing of bees and hummingbirds,
in their comings and goings to their flowers;
on happy nights, more guessed than heard,
the vows and whispers of passionate lovers;
the noise of people on the streets, corners and squares,
struggling not to go unnoticed
and to leave their stories written.
Likewise, and, perhaps, even more remarkable,
at least for me,
the voice that cannot be spoken,
coils in the throat, comes back to the soul,
then radiates in the brightness of the eyes,
entranced by:
the extreme beauty of the beloved woman,
the smile that was thought to be lost,
the children’s return, long absent from home,
the sun that got lost last night,
wondrously back by the morning.
These are strong feelings that make life worth living,
and more light our journey.
A journey in which we hold hands,
towards the promised land,
where milk and honey flow,
and evil never finds shelter.
This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©
It happened in a cold Saturday afternoon,
under remarkable and pure blue sky,
like some others that autumn had unfolded.
You were dressed in a grey coat and a golden smile,
and sudden said those words I had never listened to:
– I love you –
Surprised, seduced, unvoiced,
you heard my silence as consent,
and so you baptized and blessed forever
happy and exquisite our entire life.
I like humans.
They are a peculiar people who are confined
on a planet long forgotten in space.
Abandoned, as well as in a bus with non-existent stops,
they believe that it is in store for them
safe and happy a destiny.
It seems they are waiting for a new land, where milk
and honey flow abundantly and evil never finds shelter,
once promised by the creator of their race.
Such is the story that has been passed by their ancestors,
successively buried in the wheels of time.
I think they deserve to be supported in every way possible,
as their toiling has been proven very arduous and painful.
Indeed, they have so far endured their journey, due to odd,
exquisite and singular a love, that has survived,
despite countless setbacks and mismatches.
Anyway, although his absence,
they remember and revere their creator,
and, some, even love.
When I cover my ears,
I do not hear the waves of the sea,
I hear your sweet voice.
When I close my eyes,
I do not see darkness,
I see the light of your face
and your smile.
When I fall asleep
and leave this world,
entering the world of dreams,
I look for you but I cannot find.
It must be because God heard my prayers
and was moved. We will wake up early in the morning,
and, despite world’s bitterness,
we will have our land, our house, our bed,
our love, laughter, tender kisses and hugs.
And, from time to time, we will let them see,
those who envy and never care us,
even a little of the tears we will share.
My daughter would like to know
how many legs the letter m has?
How many sides the dice has?
How many strings has the puppeteer
to handle his theater dolls?
It reminds me I would like to know
where the well that fate has fished
my loves, my friends, my children?
Who stole my desires, my passions,
my kisses, my hugs, my most cherished dreams?
Where are they captives?
How many more suffering and uncertainty remain?
Where does the king receive his subjects who claim for justice?
This poem and all others at this blog, authored by Edilson Afonso Ferreira ©
