The long waters

Theodore Roethke

As light reflects from a lake, in late evening,
When bats fly, close to a slightly tilting brownish water,
And the low ripples run over a pebbly shoreline,
As a fire, seemingly long dead, flares up from a downdraft of air in a chimney,
Or a breeze moves over the knees from a low hill,
So the sea wind wakes desire.
My body shimmers with a light flame.

I see in the advancing and retreating waters
The shape that came from my sleep, weeping:
The eternal one, the child, the swaying vine branch,
The numinous ring around the opening flower,
The friend that runs before me on the windy headlands,
Neither voice nor vision.

I, who came back from the depths laughing too loudly,
Become another thing;
My eyes extend beyond the farthest bloom of the waves;
I lose and find myself in the long water;
I am gathered together once more;
I embrace the world.

Fonte (v. 6-8, 10-11, 14-19; em port.): Lifton, R. J. 1989. O futuro da imortalidade. SP, Trajetória Cultural. Publicado em livro em 1964, o poema completo é composto de cinco partes; o trecho acima corresponde à Parte 5.