English
version
An introduction
to the poem: A
recurrent solution that Pessoa uses when referring to a person is
to center on the moment of his death because it is then that the
worth of all his achievements can be measured. And in the case of
Vasco da Gama, the discoverer of the sea route to India, his worth
is such that (according to Pessoa) the Titans and the Gods of the
Olympus are so stricken with wonder that they interrupt their endless
war to watch as the soul of the navigator ascends to heaven.
Ascension
of Da Gama
The
gods of the storm and the giants of the earth
Suddenly suspend the hatred of their war
And are stricken with wonder. Up the valley that leads to heaven
A silence looms, and rise, rippling the veils of mist,
First a movement and then an amazement.
Skirting it, while it lasts, go fears, shoulder to shoulder;
And in the distance the wake thunders in clouds and flashes of light.
Below, where earth lies, the shepherd freezes and his flute
Falls; in ecstasy he sees, by the light of a thousand bolts,
Heavens gape the abyss to the soul of the Argonaut.
NOTAS: procurar
na Internet a inescapável tradução de 1997
do Prof. Mike Harland.
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