NOTA: Os
interessados na figura de Sir Galahad, o cavaleiro-menino do Ciclo
da Távola Redonda poderão ler a sua história
nesta
página.
English
version
An introduction
to the poem:
In its original Portuguese version, this is one of the most beautiful
poems of the third part of Mensagem. The Yearned-for is the
man that will lead Portugal and the world to the Fifth Empire and
is often indistinctly called "The Hidden One", "King
Sebastian" or "The King". Here Pessoa states his
belief that this person will be Portuguese ("the penitent soul
of your people") and will start a new religion (the
"New Eucharist")- Pessoa argued, on several occasions,
for a popular religion akin to the Greek paganism. In the last stanza
of the poem he stresses twice that the Fifth Empire he dreams of,
will be the Kingdom of Peace (and consequently will be established
by peaceful- spiritual- means). In the King Arthur Cycle, the disappearance
of the Holy Grail -because of the adultery of Guinevere with Lancelot-
brought about war and misery to the kingdom; consequently the revealing
of the Holy Grail by the Yearned-for means peace and happiness to
the world of the Fifth Empire.
The Yearned-for
Wherever
you lie, amidst shades and murmurs,
Remote, feel yourself dreamed of,
And rise from the depths of non-being
To your new fate!
Come, Galahad with homeland, and raise again,
But this time at the height of the supreme trial,
The penitent soul of your people
Towards the New Eucharist.
Master of Peace, raise your anointed sword,
Excalibur of the End of Days, in such a way
That its light, to the divided world,
Reveals the Holy Grail!
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