First published on this website on 4 November 2014. First published in print in Afagando a Face de Lorca [Stroking Lorca’s Face], edited by Francisco José Craveiro de Carvalho, Lajes do Pico, Portugal: Companhia das Ilhas [Island Company], 2020, pages 184 (English) and 185 (Portuguese translation by the editor). Originally written sometime before 1984.       +       +       +

This poem of mine is really
        an old, tinted bottle,
        floating in the ocean.
Can you read the message in it,
        curled and yellow and parched?

Mensagem numa garrafa

Este poema meu é na verdade
        uma garrafa fumada, velha,
        a flutuar no oceano.
Consegue ler a mensagem nela contida,
        enrolada, amarela, encarquilhada?