As I lay dying,
and won't worry,
I never exaggerate.
Or feel sorry for myself.
As I lay dying,
gasping for each breath
and
Coughing up my esophagus
I dreamt of Irvine
Of the view into the intersection
and the anticipation of bursting into
its magnificent cement industrial parks
and yellow traffic lights that come too soon
and the beaches, swiping by tantalizingly
always on the other side of the median.
As I lay dying
and I felt the infection eating away at my brain,
erasing whole decades and desires,
I thought of Julie
my biggest love at age 4
and the 3 little brats she's now raising.
And how they all have the eyes of a 2 year old.
The last time I saw them, they ran from me
as I turned a cardboard box into a monster
They knew I wasn’t dangerous
but they giggled as I tried to bite off their tiny hands.
As I lay dying,
waiting for my body to be discovered
by those awful roommates who never liked me anyway
(serves them right!!)
I reached up into the lilacs back in Massachusetts
dripping with mid century raindrops,
my house before I was born.
A territory unknown to me,
undeveloped and raw,
spring branches just beginning
to grow into my mighty oaks.
I slipped into a perfect time,
before time existed.
Before the fog of New York
and the crusts of snow and trash
lining every sidewalk like picket fences.
Before I awoke to complaining
and cold shoulders.
And before I caught this damn flu.
==
O meu pais nativo
Alt Title:
A coragem dos desertos./The courage of the deserts
O meu pais nativo
O meu lindo Portugal
Continua sempre vivo
Num sonho sem igual
My native country
My beautiful Portugal
Stays always alive
In a dream without equal
Pais nobre e leal
Que temos no coracao
Longe da Terra Natal
Nos fala a imaginacao.
Country, noble and loyal
That we have in our hearts
Far away from our native land
Speaks to our imagination.
Cortando os Oceanos
Deu novos mundos ao Mundo
Velhinho de muitos anos
Com sentimento profundo
Cutting the Oceans
Gave new worlds to the World (Camoes reference!!)
Old of many years/ Many years old
With a feeling of profundity/Profound sentiment
Como o Sol no horizonte
Que alumia a todo o instante
Assim es meu Portugal
Neste coricao de imigrante
Like th Sun on the horizon
That illuminates all the time
So is my Portugal
In this immigrant's heart
Os teus campos em flor
Sao um canot de alegria
Que dao luz a nossa alma
No meio da nostalgia.
Your blooming fields
Are a song of happiness
That gives light to our souls
In the midst of our nostalgia.
E se um dia la voltarmos
Recebe-nos de bracos abertos
Porque os Oceanos nos deram
A coragem dos desertos.
And if one day we go back
Receive us with open arms
Because the Ocean gave us
The courage of the deserts.
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