WIND OF THE SPIRIT Poem by Teixeira de Pascoaes

I felt a mysterious wind pass by
In a profound and cosmic whirl.
It took me in its arms; I avidly
Went; and I saw the Spirit of the World.

Earth's solitary things, glowing
Like an unconscious gaze of night,
Like a tear's dead light, felt none
Of that tragic gust, which ruffled

Only my soul! O lofty wind!
Wind of Prophecy and Exaltation!
Wind that blows in waves of mystery,
Stirring me up, making me ecstatic!

Strange wind, raging without touching
The tenderest flower! But it inflames
My entire being, causing it to give off
God's light, love's light, infinite light!

O wind that nothing resists except
An invisible shadow. . . A forest
Or rough stone is, for you, a wispy
Essence, and I am a rugged cliff.

At night, O crazy wind, you pound
My troubled soul, and a loud whoosh wraps it
And swoops it away; and so it passes
From life to life, and from death to death.

Wind that took me to I don't know where. . .
But I know I went, and I saw close up,
Before my eyes, the burning mist that hides
God's ghost, hovering over the desert!

And I also saw the hazy light
That loomed out of the darkness, enlightening
My heart, which soars beyond life,
Shedding its burden of tears.

That great wind overturned
My calm existence; and ancient sorrow
Drenched my mean and feeble body,
Like rain the tatters of a beggar woman.

In a great wind I went; I went and saw:
I saw God's Shadow. And in that shadow
I lay down, ravished, and felt within me
The earth in bloom and the sky aglitter.