O barco / The boat

O barco triste veleja nas águas turvas
Sereno ao monte escarpado acena
Observa as ondas que o monte beijam
Quer lá ir e o vento não o arrasta.
As ondas carpem o dia, na rocha, agitam
O veleiro lânguido, quase morto, desliza
Para o lado - interminável dor do horizonte.
É monte, é duro, é bruto, é torto
É poste hirto na âncora do leme.
E o vento que não vem p’ra me levar adiante
Eu que me afogo nestas águas paradas
Veleiro naufragado em almas penadas
Abano que nem a folhagem verdejante…
É a brisa: quer-me em afago constante.
O céu faz-me olhar o teu c(a)rente azul
Esqueço o monte (a)fundo os corais
Mostra-me reflexo teu nas águas termais
Abre-me nova porta descoberta enfeitiça
Chama-me velejar tuas ondas gigantes
E até ao infinito cobre-nos: diamantes.

(Conceição Sousa)

The sad boat sails on muddy waters
Serene it waves to the steep hill
Observes the waves kissing the mountain
Wants to go there but the wind doesn't haul.
The waves carping the day, on the rock, hustle
The languid sailboat, almost dead, slithers
To the side - endless horizon pain.
It's slide, it's hard, it's raw, it's awry
It's a rigid pole in the helm anchor.
And the wind that won't come to take me ahead
Me drowning in these motionless waters.
Shipwrecked sailboat among suffering souls
Shaking am I as the verdant foliage...
The breeze: wants me in constant tenderness.
The sky makes me look to your believing wanting blue
I forget the deep hill and sink the c(h)orals.
Show me your reflection on the thermal waters
Opened new found gate it bewitches
Call me to sail your giant billows
And till the infinite: cover us diamonds.

(by Conceição Sousa )

Toque /Touch

 O teu toque…ai o teu toque…

Morro: se não queimo ao teu toque.

Toque de Beethoven soando na noite

Cravada na pele essa sinfonia do estar

Encardida na alma gota etérea do amar.


O  teu toque…ai o teu toque…


Morro: se não trago cá dentro teu toque

Toque de gelo em tragos de olhar

Na carne tatua as letras ( as nossas )

Animais desprovidos do selvagem (es)correr

Acorrentados no fluir do momento – em nos saber

Toque, cúmplice toque de afagos: sorver.

Em nos saber prova, deliciosa prova, rasgada no tempo.

Tudo o que quero é desse toque chama(da)

E tocar-te, tocar-te Beethoven no infinito de sobra

Na dobra da (não) existência -a ferros -marcar

A sangue, a fogo, a luz, a suor nossa obra.

(Conceição Sousa)

Your touch...oh your touch...
I'll die: if I don't burn at your touch
Beethoven's touch sounding in the night
Carving the skin with the being symphony
Soiling the soul ether loving drop.

Your touch...oh your touch...
I'll die: if I don't bring your touch inside
Ice touch in the gaze gulps
Tattoos letters in the flesh (ours)
Deprives animals from the savage staunch
Chained in the moment flow - tasting us
Touch, accomplice caress touch : absorb.
Acknowledging us proof, delicious proof, torn in time.

All I want is from that touch a flaming call
And touch you, touch you Beethoven the infinite in abundance
In the (non) existence fold - on iron - brand
Through blood, fire, light, perspiration our work.

(by Conceição Sousa)

Impulso /Impulse

Tudo: impulso.
Impulso atrás de impulso.
Intuo pulsar do coração:
pulso bem firme nessa intuição.
Pulso bem firme.
É a corda da vida a vibrar.
Timbre soando eco da paixão:
voz imponente no acorde da emoção.
Intuo: palpitação.
Palpo:contida agitação.
Pressinto: da onda rebentação.

(de Conceição Sousa)


All: impulse.
Impulse after impulse.
I perceive the heart pulsing:
and I pulse firmly in that intuition.
Having a firm pulse.
It's the string of life vibrating.
The chord sounding the echo of passion:
magnificent voice in the tune of emotion.
I perceive: palpitation.
I palpate: chained agitation.
I forefeel: the wave breaking out.

(by Conceição Sousa)

I look at my body and I see...

I look at my body and  I see...
The grooves in the belly as desire waves
A growing desire putting on weight
An anxious desire of meeting you
 and not waiting too much to see your face.
I look at my body and I see...
The bump in the abdomen zone gently shaped
The maternity mirror, magic there anchored
Proud I show it to the world, motherhood full.
I look at my body and I see...
The sinuous curve at the bottom of my spine
The blessed burden of gestation responsibility
In the enchantment I sustain our happiness.
I look at my body and I see...
The fragility in the bones, the child's tenderness
The tooth ache which visits me from time to time
Nutrition for my sweet babies in the belly.
I look at my body and I see...
The skin flabbiness it became
The man and the woman in love, no complaint
And from passion the seeds there germinating.
I look at my body and I see...
The lovely sculpture one has made
The enchanted charm in the eyes of the sculptors
Who look at the body and keep working on the soul.
I feel in these motherhood scars
The enormous well-being of someone
Who gives it all without asking return.
I receive all the time through these wounds
Fragments of happiness from the present and from the past.
I recall, missing and longing, the maternity pains
Feeling all the time inside my alive flesh
My beloved children their premature movements
As if they were small mice moving beneath the carpet.
When through my skin languid I pampered them
They communicated to the mother waving they knew me loving
And today they still wave sheltered in my eternal lap
They ask me lullaby songs from gone times
That I sing indefatigably into our ears.
They know I love them and that they're safe.
The nave string has been doomly cut
Though that action hasn't raised a wall between us.
The navels show us endlessly
The eternal act and the unconditional love of maternity.

(by Conceição Sousa)

Olho para o meu corpo e vejo

Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
As estrias, na barriga, que nem ondas do desejo,
desejo que cresceu ao vê-la, incrédula, aumentar
desejo ansioso de te conhecer, sem muito esperar.
Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
a lomba, na zona do ventre, docemente formada,
o espelho da maternidade, magia ali ancorada,
orgulhosa mostro-a ao mundo, mãe babada.
Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
a curva sinuosa, ao fundo da coluna,
o peso abençoado, da gestação responsabilidade,
o encanto com que sustive nossa felicidade.
Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
na fragilidade dos ossos, o carinho dos filhos,
na dor de dentes, que me visita de quando em vez,
a nutrição, no ventre, de meus queridos bebés.
Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
na flacidez das peles, em que se tornou,
o homem e a mulher, que o Amor sonharam,
e da loucura, as sementes, que ali se geraram.
Olho para o meu corpo e vejo
A bela escultura que dele fizeram
O encanto embevecido com que o olham
Os olhos dos escultores,que nele trabalham,
E sinto, nestas marcas da maternidade,
Um enorme bem-estar, de quem muito de si dá,
Recebo a toda a hora, por via delas, e de quem as admira,
Fragmentos de felicidade, do presente e do passado,
E recordo, com saudade, as dores da maternidade
Sentindo, a todo o momento, por dentro da carne,
Os meus amados filhos, os precoces movimentos,
Que nem ratinhos, movimentando-se por baixo do tapete
Quando, na minha pele, lânguida os acariciava,
Comunicavam à mãe, ondulando, que sabiam quem os amava.
E ainda hoje ondulam, acocorados, no meu eterno colo,
Pedem-me canções de embalar de tempos idos
Que canto, incansavelmente, aos nossos ouvidos.
Sabem, que os amo, e que ,em mim, estão seguros
Pois o cordão, que nos cortaram, não levantou muros
Nos umbigos faz-se presente e mostra-nos a eternidade
Que é o acto e o amor incondicional da maternidade!

(de Conceição Sousa )

Isso.../ That...

Isso, que tu sentes aí dentro...
isso, que não se vê,
 mas que te move,
de tão intenso,
e que te deixa tenso de dor...
isso, a que se chama Amor...
isso é a prova da tua existência...
isso é a prova da existência de Deus...
e é apenas uma prova,
de quem é testado e não sabe,
de quem saboreia somente um pouco...
tudo o resto...
 nem dá sequer para imaginar,
 só sei que deve ser imenso.

(de Conceição Sousa )

That... which you feel  there,inside,
that... that one cannot see
though it moves you
of so intense,
which leaves you tense in pain
that... which one calls Love
which is the proof of your existence
which is the proof of God's existence
and it's only a proof,
of those who are being tested
and don't even know about it,
of those who taste just a little of it...
all the rest...
we can't even imagine...
I just know that it must be immense.

(by Conceição Sousa )

I AM MOVED BY LOVE...

I am moved by LOVE

By my children

And in this concept

I include my brother

And all the children

Of all mothers

Whose eyes are watching me

Awaiting endless answers.

Those children one day will ask

“-Oh Mum! Where are you? Come and help me!”

I want them to feel these verses

And in them travel their returns.

I want them to listen to my letters

Inspirit the strength of comets

And react to their reverses.

I want them to read my soul

And to define theirs in quietness

To revive the person that I am

The good, the bad, the moon, the ground,

The insecurity, the shyness,

The courage, the self-assurance

The person who (with them) has so become

The joy, the happiness, the pain

The person who they know by heart.

I am moved by LOVE

By my offspring

And every offspring

Who one day will think

“-Oh Mum! Where did you go? Come and get me!”

No, I won’t. No.

I’m on these lines, right here.

Be reborn from the ashes

Fight with your own “selves”

Drive away your sorrows.

Forgive your mistakes

Begin again from new waters

Cling to your God

Trust your own harm

Don’t bring down the curtain!

I am moved by LOVE

By my emperor

And all the emperors

By my smile

And all the smiles

By my flower

And all the flowers

By the tenderness in their upbringing

By the sweetness in their loving

One day they will inquire

“-Oh Mum! Where’s the way out?”

Don’t leave! Stay!

Cling to yourself, to your own conscience.

Dialogue with you and your executioner.

Clean up the troubles and put them into a shelf

The yesterday agony into a corner

Begin from zero, inspire

Think of you as a saint in forgiveness

Manoeuvre in life the mast

Sail in the light of tranquillity

Grab to my missing and longing.

I am moved by LOVE

By my parents

And all the parents

Who give all in life

The sacrifice of their armies.

I want to tell them that they deserve

Because they have a magic wand (wound)

To be worthy of a child’s being in their investment

I want to give them a present in the patience

That they cry their pains

In the upbringing of all their loves

I want to tell them that I love them endlessly

And appreciate the blessing, the act of my existence

The tenderness of my sleeping

The will of my awakening.

I am moved by LOVE

By my ancestors

To all ancestors

I want them to watch me

And have endless joys

I want them to live this evening

The echo of all their living

To feel the plenitude

This spark of happiness

And change it into youth

I want them often to think

That it’s good to be here

Even if the body drags itself

I want them to be willing to breathe.

Look at me

And dare dreaming...

Even when the pain hurts

Like a sword in the flesh

Look at us

Children of you

And smile beyond the end

Smile behind the voice.

I am moved by LOVE

The love towards GOD

The creator the pain maker

Because without pain

There isn’t LOVE

God hasn’t got a shape

It’s energy

It fits in us

Of gladness

It’s always here

And nonetheless

All the way

We search it there

I am moved by LOVE

And LOVE is ME.

(by Conceição Sousa)