sexta-feira, 4 de setembro de 2009

DARKNESS / AS TREVAS, de Lord Byron




I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 

The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars

Did wander darkling in the eternal space,

Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,

And men forgot their passions in the dread

Of this their desolation; and all hearts

Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:

And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,

The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,

The habitations of all things which dwell,

Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,

And men were gather'd round their blazing homes

To look once more into each other's face;

Happy were those who dwelt within the eye

Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:

A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;

Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour

They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks

Extinguish'd with a crash—and all was black.

The brows of men by the despairing light

Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits

The flashes fell upon them; some lay down

And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest

Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;

And others hurried to and fro, and fed

Their funeral piles with fuel, and look'd up

With mad disquietude on the dull sky,

The pall of a past world; and then again

With curses cast them down upon the dust,

And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd

And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,

And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes

Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd

And twin'd themselves among the multitude,

Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food.

And War, which for a moment was no more,

Did glut himself again: a meal was bought

With blood, and each sate sullenly apart

Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;

All earth was but one thought—and that was death

Immediate and inglorious; and the pang

Of famine fed upon all entrails—men

Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;

The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,

Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,

And he was faithful to a corse, and kept

The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,

Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead

Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,

But with a piteous and perpetual moan,

And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand

Which answer'd not with a caress—he died.

The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two

Of an enormous city did survive,

And they were enemies: they met beside

The dying embers of an altar-place

Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things

For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,

And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands

The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath

Blew for a little life, and made a flame

Which was a mockery; then they lifted up

Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld

Each other's aspects—saw, and shriek'd, and died—

Even of their mutual hideousness they died,

Unknowing who he was upon whose brow

Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,

The populous and the powerful was a lump,

Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—

A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.

The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,

And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;

Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,

And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd

They slept on the abyss without a surge—

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,

The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;

The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,

And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need

Of aid from them—She was the Universe.

Tradução de Castro Alves:



Tive um sonho que em tudo não foi sonho!...

O sol brilhante se apagava: e os astros,

Do eterno espaço na penumbra escura,

Sem raios, e sem trilhos, vagueavam.

A terra fria balouçava cega

E tétrica no espaço ermo de lua.

A manhã ia, vinha... e regressava...

Mas não trazia o dia! Os homens pasmos

Esqueciam no horror dessas ruínas

Suas paixões: E as almas conglobadas

Gelavam-se num grito de egoísmo

Que demandava "luz". Junto às fogueiras

Abrigavam-se... e os tronos e os palácios,

Os palácios dos reis, o albergue e a choça

Ardiam por fanais. Tinham nas chamas

As cidades morrido. Em torno às brasas

Dos seus lares os homens se grupavam,

P'ra à vez extrema se fitarem juntos.

Feliz de quem vivia junto às lavas

Dos vulcões sob a tocha alcantilada!


Hórrida esp'rança acalentava o mundo!

As florestas ardiam! ... de hora em hora

Caindo se apagavam; crepitando,

Lascado o tronco desabava em cinzas.

E tudo... tudo as trevas envolviam.

As frontes ao clarão da luz doente

Tinham do inferno o aspecto... quando às vezes

As faíscas das chamas borrifavam-nas.

Uns, de bruços no chão, tapando os olhos

Choravam. Sobre as mãos cruzadas — outros —

Firmando a barba, desvairados riam.

Outros correndo à toa procuravam

O ardente pasto p'ra funéreas piras.

Inquietos, no esgar do desvario,

Os olhos levantavam p'ra o céu torvo,

Vasto sudário do universo — espectro —,

E após em terra se atirando em raivas,

Rangendo os dentes, blásfemos, uivavam!


Lúgubre grito os pássaros selvagens

Soltavam, revoando espavoridos

Num vôo tonto co'as inúteis asas!

As feras 'stavam mansas e medrosas!

As víboras rojando s'enroscavam

Pelos membros dos homens, sibilantes,

Mas sem veneno... a fome lhes matavam!

E a guerra, que um momento s'extinguira,

De novo se fartava. Só com sangue

Comprava-se o alimento, e após à parte

Cada um se sentava taciturno,

P'ra fartar-se nas trevas infinitas!

Já não havia amor! ... O mundo inteiro

Era um só pensamento, e o pensamento

Era a morte sem glória e sem detença!

O estertor da fome apascentava-se

Nas entranhas ... Ossada ou carne pútrida

Ressupino, insepulto era o cadáver.

Mordiam-se entre si os moribundos

Mesmo os cães se atiravam sobre os donos,

Todos exceto um só... que defendia

O cadáver do seu, contra os ataques

Dos pássaros, das feras e dos homens,

Até que a fome os extinguisse, ou fossem

Os dentes frouxos saciar algures!

Ele mesmo alimento não buscava ...

Mas, gemendo num uivo longo e triste,

Morreu lambendo a mão, que inanimada

Já não podia lhe pagar o afeto.

Faminta a multidão morrera aos poucos.

Escaparam dous homens tão-somente

De uma grande cidade. E se odiavam.

...Foi junto dos tições quase apagados

De um altar, sobre o qual se amontoaram

Sacros objetos p'ra um profano uso,

Que encontraram-se os dous... e, as cinzas mornas

Reunindo nas mãos frias de espectros,

De seus sopros exaustos ao bafejo

Uma chama irrisória produziram! ...

Ao clarão que tremia sobre as cinzas

Olharam-se e morreram dando um grito.

Mesmo da própria hediondez morreram,

Desconhecendo aquele em cuja fronte

Traçara a fome o nome de Duende!


O mundo fez-se um vácuo. A terra esplêndida,

Populosa tornou-se numa massa

Sem estações, sem árvores, sem erva.

Sem verdura, sem homens e sem vida,

Caos de morte, inanimada argila!

Calaram-se o Oceano, o rio, os lagos!

Nada turbava a solidão profunda!

Os navios no mar apodreciam

Sem marujos! os mastros desabando

Dormiam sobre o abismo, sem que ao menos

Uma vaga na queda alevantassem,

Tinham morrido as vagas! e jaziam

As marés no seu túmulo... antes delas

A lua que as guiava era já morta!

No estagnado céu murchara o vento;

Esvaíram-se as nuvens. E nas trevas

Era só trevas o universo inteiro.




(Espumas Flutuantes)




(Ilustração: Gustave Doré - chuva de brasas)





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