José Tolentino Mendonça Poems

in the beginning was the island
although it's said
that the Spirit of God
hugged the waters
...

After shutting everything, I reopen the door
and plunge unsteadily into the empty darkness
at certain hours I'm afraid of the company
of what doesn't sleep
...

I have friends who pray to Simone Weil
For many years now I've noticed Flannery O'Connor

Prayer must be like those things
...

I walked with you through the exact afternoon
you gave me your hand, life seemed
hard to establish
above the high wall
...

Sometimes I miss having no one I can tell
a certain day from beginning to end
the real enchantment of the steady wind
all along the shore at Foz do Douro
...

I abandon house and garden my place at the table
my favorite jacket, folded on the bed
this almost banal truth
that was me all my life
...

We look at those strangers
whom we love and who love us
and they're always adolescents
afraid and alone
...

What's said about winter may be said about youth
it's an abstract season
at a certain moment we feel suddenly cold
as if time no longer consented
...

Without warning we lose
the vastness of the fields
singular enigmas
the clarity we swear
...

Nothing in the world is closer
but those to whom we deny our words
love, certain infirmities, the purest presence
hear what the woman dressed in sunlight says
...