Emptiness

' Vazio '

 

The night is like a long and clear stare of a woman.

I feel lonely.

In all things that surround me

There is an absolute ignorance of my unhappiness.

The late evening peers at me through the window

And I, helpless to everything, helpless to my own self

Look at things around

With an absolute ignorance of the things that surround me.

I wander within myself, alone, lost

Everything is deserted, my soul is hollow

And it has the grave silence of the abandoned temples.

I peer at the night through the window

It has the wonderful quietness of ecstasy.

But the cats downstairs wake me up crying lust

And I think that tomorrow...

But a female cat sees on the street a big black cat

And runs away from the grey cat.

I peer at the wonderful night

Strange like the look of flesh.

I see at the grate the grey cat watching the caresses of the molly and the black cat

I lose myself for moments in old adventures

And return to the empty and silent soul that no longer awakens

Not even in the clear and long night like the stare of a woman

Nor amid the lustful cries of the cats making love on the street.

- Vinicius de Moraes