You want to sleep: get rid of the noise, and

the remains of the day, take the dagger
and the traffic from your mouth, shadows of
your screams, and clothes, cries, ropes and
also the faces that loom over
your sonorous way of giving, and the other bodies
that lie down and are trampled, and the flies
that fly over your father's corpse, and the pain (don't listen)
which is preparing to fulfill your vigil, and the songs that
forgot your arms and so many moments
that lose your silences, and the high winds
that don't sleep, that look at you from the window
and enter through your door like mads
because nothing abandons you nor you to sleep.

///

Tu queres sono: despe-te dos ruidos, e
dos restos do dia, tira da tua boca
o punhal e o trânsito, sombras
de teus gritos, e roupas, choros, cordas e
também as faces que assomam sobre a
tua sonora forma de dar, e os outos corpos
que se deitam e se pisam, e as moscas
que sobrevoam o cadáver do teu pai, e a dor (não ouças)
que se prepara para cumprir a tua vigília, e os cantos que
esqueceram teus braços e tantos movimentos
que perdem teus silêncios, e os ventos altos
que não dormem, que te olham da janela
e em tua porta penetram como loucos
pois nada te abandona nem tu ao sono.

by Ana Cristina CESAR (1952-1983), suicidal Brazilian poet

(English translated by Armando TABORDA, 2019)

(photograph taken from Internet; edited by Armando Taborda)