Exile
Here in this Babylon, that’s festering
forth as much evil as the rest of the earth;
here where true Love deprecates his worth,
as his powerful mother pollutes everything;
here where evil is refined and good is cursed,
and tyranny, not honour, has its way;
here where the Monarchy, in disarray,
blindly attempts to mislead God, and worse;
here in this labyrinth, where Royalty,
willingly, chooses to succumb
before the Gates of Greed and Infamy;
here in this murky chaos and delirium,
I carry out my tragic destiny,
but never will I forget you, Jerusalem!
Luís de Camões (1524/5-1580) is generally considered the greatest writer in Portuguese history. The author of the last great Western epic poem, O Lusiadas, about the monumental voyage of Vasco da Gama around the Cape of Good Hope to the Orient in 1497, Camões was also one of the earliest sonneteers, often compared to Petrarch, Dante, and Shakespeare (whom he predated).
William Baer, a former Fulbright Professor in Coimbra, Portugal, is currently editor of the US poetry journal, The Formalist. His first collection, The Unfortunates, was published by New Odyssey Press and received the 1997 TS Eliot Poetry Prize. He has also edited two books for the University Press of Mississippi: Conversations with Derek Walcott (1996) and Elia Kazan: Interview (2000).
William Baer, a former Fulbright Professor in Coimbra, Portugal, is currently editor of the US poetry journal, The Formalist. His first collection, The Unfortunates, was published by New Odyssey Press and received the 1997 TS Eliot Poetry Prize. He has also edited two books for the University Press of Mississippi: Conversations with Derek Walcott (1996) and Elia Kazan: Interview (2000).
Translated by William Baer
Page(s) 25
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