RUI DUARTE RODRIGUES - Mid-Afternoon

Mid-Afternoon

(sitting in Volga cafe, Horta, Faial island)


A cup of coffee, a chalice, 
an ashtray (aluminium, dented
   and distant in the southeast direction
   of the door) 
like islands
on the table top
and my fingers traveling (at mid
altitude) from one to the other

with the cigarette that keeps me from lying more
defectively placed on the lips
or turning in the air
like a rocket

here I am, in front of a postcard,
undecided

and impressed by the gross humidity
of some dark eyes
that I see from the other side of all the tables
in the middle of a clearing of girls burning
rain and cold in the oven of their wombs
and breasts

between one and the other island, the sea
(upset grey) -- 
between the branches of the auracaria: climbs 
[the mountain  
heights of snow




Rui Duarte Rodrigues, Nove Rumores do Mar - Antologia, p. 138
Tradução: Rogério Sousa