BEING BEAUTEOUS Poem by Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos

My English friend who entered the bedroom and drew the curtains with a single swipe
knew what he was drawing
I say he said you'll say it was shocking
it's that we were strangers strangers and foreigners
and so close to each other in that house
but I see more widely more darkly inside the body
and I've discovered that light is something for the rich
those who spend their lives gazing at the sun
cultivating bees in their sex organs lyres in their heads
and no sooner does night touch the white strip of beach
than they run and phone the police

And it's not so much the diamonds and conveniences and housemaids
I mean the rich in spirit
rich in experience
rich in knowing how
semen flows out one side and feces out the other
and in the sweet in-betweens
there's urine and libraries train stations the theater
all that has been loved
and stored in the corner of an eye imploring more light for it to have been true

My English friend remembered only
simple beginning gestures
and he drew the curtains and created
beyond the feeble kiss we can kiss
the endless voyage of no return