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Cecília Meireles

Hoje é dia do nascimento de Cecília Meireles, uma de nossas grandes poetas brasileiras. Então, em sua homenagem, vai aí um poema dela que me toca e a minha humilde tradução para o inglês para que outros o conheçam. / Today is the date of the birth of one of Brazil's great poets, Cecília Meireles. So, in her honor I share one of her poems that touch me and my humble translation of it to English so that others get to know it.

Retrato
      Cecília Meireles

Eu não tinha este rosto de hoje,
assim calmo, assim triste, assim magro,
nem estes olhos tão vazios,
nem o lábio amargo.

Eu não tinha estas mãos sem força,
tão paradas e frias e mortas;
eu não tinha este coração
que nem se mostra.

Eu não dei por esta mudança,
tão simples, tão certa, tão fácil:
- Em que espelho ficou perdida
a minha face?

Portrait
       Cecília Meireles
       Translated by Lorena S. Santos

I did not have this face of today,
So calm, so sad, so thin,
Neither had I such empty eyes,
Such bitter lips.

I did not have these powerless hands,
so inert and cold and dead;
I did not have this heart
which hides.

I was unaware of this change,
so simple, so certain, so easy:
- In which mirror have I lost my face?

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