A mão que assina o ato assassina a
cidade.
Cinco dedos
reais taxam o ar – é a lei.
Cevam o
morticínio e ceifam um país;
Os cinco
reis que dão cabo de um rei.
A mão que
manda mana de um ombro em declínio,
Cãibras
deduram nós nos dedos que a cal cala.
Penas de
ganso firmam o assassínio
Que pôs fim
a uma fala.
A mão que
assina o pacto traz a peste,
Praga e
devastação, o gafanhoto e a fome;
Grande é a
mão que pesa sobre o homem
Ao rabisco
de um nome.
Os cinco
reis contam os mortos mas não curam
A crosta da
ferida e o rosto já sem cor.
A mão rege
a clemência como a outra os céus.
Mãos não
têm lágrimas a expor.
Tradução de
Augusto de Campos
The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.
The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,
The finger joints are cramped with chalk;
A goose's quill has put an end to murder
That put an end to talk.
The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand the holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.
The five kings count the dead but do not soften
The crusted wound nor pat the brow;
A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;
Hands have no tears to flow.
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.
The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,
The finger joints are cramped with chalk;
A goose's quill has put an end to murder
That put an end to talk.
The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand the holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.
The five kings count the dead but do not soften
The crusted wound nor pat the brow;
A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;
Hands have no tears to flow.
In: Augusto de Campos. Poesia da recusa.
Perspectiva, 2006.
