Poetry above all

E quando está tudo difícil demais a ponto de você perguntar se vai mesmo conseguir aguentar abrir uma lata de pêssegos em calda sem explodir em lágrimas e dor, vem a poesia e te salva, e diz tudo por você, e te abraça e diz que "it'll all be ok".

O poema abaixo foi escrito no dia da morte do meu pai, por John Lyons, e é uma das coisas mais impressionantemente lindas que eu já li na vida. John conheceu meu pai por alguns anos, mas conheceu tudo dele, e eles eram muito amigos.

Thank you, Brother.

Waldir

There are names

And there are names,

Drenched in emotion

But free from tears

Names that sail

Freely along the coast

Of Ilhabela

Names that dwell

On the tip of the tongue

Names that are in essence

A kiss

Or a warm embrace

Names that love

The laughter of life

And scoff at death’s

Dismal victory,

names that purr after dark

just as Carol

is purring still

on the stairs

in São Carlos;

there are names

soaked to the core

in honour

in dignity

in respect,

names with a fierce

tenderness,

names that are

essential to the smooth

running of life

and that cause us to stand

to attention

as they pass us by

or as they pause

to spend a few years

with us, names

that charge the memory

with indelible moments,

names that bear

testimony to the stubbornness

of love, to the fact

pure and simple

that love outlives

pedestrian life that ultimately

cannot keep pace, cannot

go the distance, life

that empty misnomer!

What’s in a name?

That uncommon denominator

That we carry from

The date of our birth

Up to and beyond

The moment of complete

Release, no longer

The wounded bird

Held in delicate hands,

But a name that soars

In the beating heart,

For ever and ever.

John Lyons

2 November 2008