All about Walt Whitman

5 CONCLUSION (Part 18)

Although the “Sea-Drift” cluster comprises wonderful poems, such as “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” and “As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life,” as well as other beautiful poems, we have chosen one short poem and a stanza from another to include in this discussion. It does not mean that these poems are better than the others, but because they are great expressions of the poet in a very dense way, which is not typical of Whitman, who usually prefers longer and freer lines. The first, “Tears”, echoes the poet’s anxiety and loneliness at night. It is similar in tone and rhythm to another poem, “Trickle Drops”, from “Calamus,” included in section 3.5. Two Brazilian poets have inspired us in the re-creation of these poems: (João da) Cruz e Souza (1861-1898) and Augusto (de Carvalho Rodrigues) dos Anjos (1884-1914). The inspiration came from their well marked rhythm that has lingered in our memory, as well as their capacity for interweaving sounds in their poetry. The re-creation of the other poem quoted further on, “To the Man-of-War-Bird,” imposed itself by its strong and marked rhythm, a mix of decasyllables and alexandrines. The passage selected below has been translated in alexandrines, even the last line, which is a combination of a short verse of four syllables plus an alexandrine.

.

WHITMAN:

Tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears,
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck’d in by the sand,
Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate,
Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head;
O who is that ghost? that form in the dark, with tears?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch’d there on the sand?
Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries;
O storm, embodied, rising, careering with swift steps along the     beach!
O wild and dismal night storm, with wind—O belching and desperate!
O shade so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and       regulated pace,
But away at night as you fly, none looking—O then the unloosen’d ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!

.

OUR RE-CREATION:

Lágrimas

.

Lágrimas! lágrimas! lágrimas!

Na noite, em solidão, lágrimas,

Na alva praia pingando, pingando, absorvida pela areia,

Lágrimas, nem uma estrela brilhando, tudo sombrio e solitário,

Úmidas lágrimas dos olhos de uma cabeça encoberta;

Oh quem é aquele fantasma? aquela forma na sombra, com lágrimas?

Que massa disforme é aquela, curvada, agachada lá na areia?

Lágrimas vertentes, soluçantes lágrimas, angústias, engasgadas com brados selvagens;

Oh tormenta, encarnada, se erguendo, disparando em passos rápidos pela praia!

Oh tormenta noturna selvagem e sinistra, com vento—Oh vazante e desesperado!

Oh sombra tão sóbria e digna de dia, com sereno semblante e regulado ritmo,

Mas ausente à noite quando voas, ninguém olhando—Oh aí então o alastrado oceano,

De lágrimas! lágrimas! lágrimas!

.

WHITMAN:

Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm,
Waking renew’d on thy prodigious pinions,
(Burst the wild storm? above it thou ascended’st,
And rested on the sky, thy slave that cradled thee,)
Now a blue point, far, far in heaven floating,
As to the light emerging here on deck I watch thee,
(Myself a speck, a point on the world’s floating vast.)

OUR RE-CREATION:

Ao Alcatraz

Tu que dormiste toda a noite na tormenta,

Acordando renovado em espantosas penas,

(Rompeste a brava tormenta? e acima subiste,

E dormiste no céu, teu servo que criou-te,)

Agora um ponto azul, no céu longe planando,

Quanto à luz que emerge aqui no convés, te assisto,

(Eu mesmo um grão, um ponto na vagante vastidão do mundo.)

***

_{»crosslinked«}