Poem Translation: Christmas Poem by Vinicius de Moraes

"There is not much to say..."

The “little poet”, Vinicius de Moraes, was famous in his time as a general bohemian and man of letters. He well-earned reputation was that of a whiskey-drinking woman-toting sensualist. He was the sort of man who would write “may it be infinite while it lasts” at the end of a sonnet about faithfulness.

He wrote a poem about Christmas, called simply Poema de Natal, “Christmas Poem”. It contains one of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever read; whether the line is about hope or about death, I leave to you.

It is taken from his 1946 collection Poems, Sonnets, and Ballads.

Christmas Poem
by Vinicius de Moraes, translated by Joffre Swait

For this we were made:
To recall and be recalled
To weep and make weep
To bury our dead –
For this we have arms long for farewells
Hands to gather in what was given
Fingers to dig out the earth.

So will be our life:
An ever forgettable afternoon
A star blinking off in the deep dark
A path between two tombs – 
This is why we must keep watch
Speak low, step light, see
The night sleeping in silence.

There is not much to say:
A song over a cradle
A verse, perhaps of love
A prayer for one departing – 
But never forget this hour,
And for it our hearts
Are dropped, grave and simple.

Therefore for this we were made:
For waiting on a miracle
For the participation of poetry
For seeing the face of death – 
Suddenly we shall never wait again…
Today the night is young; from death we merely
Are born, immensely.

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Many thanks to my friend Márcio for our conversations about poetry. I’m grateful for everything he’s shown me.