If a promise is a due, here I am to quit it !

*Manuela Vaz, our follower, send us the good English version of THE POEM OF MY HOPE by Sebastião da Gama.

She's the most kind, so I've promised her to publish, side by side, her version and my final illustration to this poem.

That was the way I had at my hand to say how thankful I am for her answer to my request.*

THANK YOU so much, Manuela!

Here's the new version & the last drawing:

*

illustration by [PMSCBA], c. 1996

*

POEM OF MY HOPE

[ by Sebastião da Gama - English version by Manuela Vaz ]

How nice to have the clock fast!...
Thus, knowing
there is always extra time,
one does not worry nor hurry.

My mockery smile.
Friends!,
When I see my watch
three quarters fast!...

Ticktock… Ticktock…
(It goes on thinking
I’m already at the close of my days.)

Ticktock…
(How I laugh to myself
about this funny thing:
while it believes there’s just the remains
I know that I have always morethree quarters of an hour to live.)

My ironic smile, my friends!

by [PMSCBA],

c. 1996

(this is a sketch for an illustration I've made, years ago, for the next poem:)

.

POEMA DA MINHA ESPERANÇA

por Sebastião da Gama, 27 de Janeiro de 1947

.

.

Que bom ter o relógio adiantado!...

A gente assim, por saber

que tem sempre tempo a mais,

não se rala nem se apressa.

.

O meu sorriso de troça.

Amigos!,

quando vejo o meu relógio

com três quartos de hora a mais!...

.

Tic-tac... Tic-tac...

(Lá pensa ele

que é já o fim dos meus dias.)

.

Tic-tac...

(Como eu rio, cá p'ra dentro,

de esta coisa divertida:

ele a julgar que é já o resto

e eu a saber que tenho sempre mais

três quartos de hora de vida.)

.

English version (translation by António Guevare, from Lifstyle Warriors: lifestylewarriorsweekly.blogspot.com and Pedro Éme)

.

POEM OF MY HOPE

by Sebastião da Gama. 27 Jan 1945

.

How nice it is to have the clock forwarded!...

So, by knowing to have

more time than supposed,

one does not worry and one doesn't hurry.

.

My derisive grin.

My friends!,

when I watch my watch

advenced three quarters of an hour!

.

Tic-tac... Tic-tac...

(Wondering

the end of my days is about to be.)

.

Tic-tac...

(How am I laughing

about this amusing thing:

while he feels it's the dead of the day

I am spending my

saved three quarters of an hour away.)