The Body Exquisite: Ana Luísa Amaral
Ana Luísa Amaral
Photo: Casa Fernando Pessoa
Nude: a study in poignancy
What are you thinking about
when you look at me like that,
as you lie on the sofa,
diagonal to the place I sit,
with me pretending not to look at you?
What is your body thinking about,
your long, elastic body,
ready to come to me
if I call?
Ears slightly pricked,
paws furled,
what can you see now in the whites of your eyes:
a crescent moon,
a pale meadow?
And when you sleep, at other times,
what dreams travel through you:
your mother, a mouse, a soft hand, a leap
so perfect
and high, so lithe?
Where: the uncold night
that will one day
shelter us
and that will
(as it must)
be the same?
Translation: Margaret Jull Costa
Nú: estudo em comoção
Em que meditas tu
quando olhas para mim dessa maneira,
deitada no sofá
diagonal ao espaço onde me sento,
fingindo eu não te olhar?
Em que pensa o teu corpo
elástico, alongado,
pronto a vir ter comigo
se eu pedir?
As orelhas contidas em recanto,
as patas recuadas,
o que atravessa agora o branco dos teus olhos:
lua em quarto-crescente,
um prado claro?
E quando dormes, como noutras horas,
que sonhos te viajam:
a mãe, a caça, a mão macia, o salto
muito perfeito
e alto, muito esguio?
Onde: a noite sem frio
que nos abrigará
um dia
e que há-de ser
(só pode ser)
igual
Ana Luísa Amaral has written poetry, plays, children’s books, a novel and is translated into over twenty languages. She was awarded national and international prizes, recently the Reina Sofia Prize for Ibero American Poetry. She has several books in English, the latest being What’s in a Name (transl. Margaret Jull Costa, NY, New Directions, 2019).