NOTA:
Para uma discussão do simbolismo deste poema inserido
no conjunto d'Os Tempos ver a minha introdução
a "O Encoberto".
English
version
An introduction
to the poem: The
Bogey-beast of
Portuguese Sea returns, again to symbolize the fear of the Unknown.
Maybe it comes to instill in the hearts of men fear for the Fifth
Empire (the new day that will last forever) but the monster no longer
rules because its realm was unraveled by the Explorers of Old. So
the monster, now reduced to serfdom, comes to seek his master that
was once Lord of the Sea and is now sleeping (a reference to Portugal
or King Sebastian who, in this sense, are equivalent). But Portugal
who unraveled the Second World ( that in which we live- this is
a reference to the Three Worlds of the Second Epistle of St. Peter)
sleeps on and does not show signs of willing to show the way to
the Fifth Empire (which Pessoa likens here to the Third World of
St. Peter's Epistle). So the monster flies away again...
Before Dawn
The
bogey-beast that lives at the end of the sea
Came from the darkness to seek
The dawning of the new day,
Of the new day that will last forever.
And said, "Who is he who sleeps remembering
That he has unraveled the Second World
But does not want to unveil the Third?".
And
the sound of his turning in the dark
Makes
the sleep bad, sad the dreaming.
Turned
and flew away the monster-serf
That
came here to seek his master,
That came here his master to call -
To
call the One who lies in sleep
And
who was once Lord of the Sea. |