Fernando Pessoa XXXVI

Jane Fulton Alt, Ice No. 15, 2010

Rather the flight of the bird which passes and leaves no trace,
Than the track of the animal that is carved in the ground.
The bird passes and is forgotten and so it must be.
The animal, though no longer there and thus of no good,
Proves that it was there, but this too is of no interest.

Remembering is a betrayal to Nature
Because yesterday's Nature is Nature no longer.
What was is nothing and to remember is not to see.

Pass by, bird, pass by and teach me how to pass.

Fernando Pessoa
Sixty Portuguese Poems
University of Wales Press

Jane Fulton Alt, Ice No. 10, 2010