Entre nós mesmas: Poemas reunidos

For Each of You

Be who you are and will be

learn to cherish

that boistrous Black Angel that drives you

up one day and down another

protecting the place where your power rises

running like hot blood

from the same source

as your pain.

When you are hungry

learn to eat

whatever sustains you

until morning

but do not be misled by details

simply because you live them.

Do not let your head deny

your hands

any memory of what passes through them

nor your eyes

nor your heart

everything can be useful

except what is wasteful

(you will need

to remember this when you are accused of destruction.)

Even when they are dangerous

examine the heart of those machines you hate

before you discard them

and never mourn the lack of their power

lest you be condemned

to relive them.

If you do not learn to hate

you will never be lonely

enough

to love easily

nor will you always be brave

although it does not grow any easier

Do not pretend to convenient beliefs

even when they are righteous

you will never be able to defend your city

while shouting.

Remember our sun

is not the most noteworthy star

only the nearest.

Respect whatever pain you bring back

from your dreaming

but do not look for new gods

in the sea

nor in any part of a rainbow

Each time you love

love as deeply

as if it were

forever

only nothing is

eternal.

Speak proudly to your children

where ever you may find them

tell them

you are the offspring of slaves

and your mother was

a princess

in darkness.

Para cada uma de vocês

Sejam quem são e serão

aprendam a celebrar

aquele Anjo Negro ruidoso que lhes guia

pelos altos e baixos dos dias

protegendo o lugar donde seu poder emerge

correndo feito sangue quente

da mesma fonte

que sua dor.

Quando sentirem fome

aprendam a comer

o que quer que dê sustância

até a manhã

mas não se deixem perder em detalhes

simplesmente porque vocês os vivem.

Não deixem sua mente negar

suas mãos

memória alguma do que passa por elas

nem seus olhos

nem seu coração

tudo pode ser usado

menos o que é inútil

(vocês precisarão

se lembrar disso quando forem acusadas de destruição.)

Mesmo quando forem perigosas

examinem o coração das máquinas que vocês odeiam

antes de descartá-las

e nunca lamentem sua falta de poder

pra que não condenem vocês

a revivê-las.

Se vocês não aprenderem a odiar

nunca ficarão sós

o bastante

para amar facilmente

tampouco serão sempre corajosas

embora isso tampouco brote fácil

Não finjam crenças convenientes

mesmo quando são justificadas

vocês nunca conseguirão defender sua cidade

enquanto gritam.

Lembrem-se que nosso sol

não é nem a estrela mais digna de menção

nem a mais próxima.

Respeitem qualquer dor que venha

dos seus sonhos

mas não procurem deuses novos

no mar

nem em qualquer parte de um arco-íris

Cada vez que amarem

amem tão fundo

como se fosse

para sempre

só que nada é

eterno.

Falem com suas crias orgulhosamente

onde quer que as encontrem

digam a elas

vocês descendem de escravizades¹

e sua mãe foi

uma princesa

na escuridão.

1 \ Opção da tradutora em usar o pronome neutro, com e. Outros casos aparecerão no livro. (N.E.)

The Day They Eulogized Mahalia

The day they eulogized Mahalia

the echoes of her big voice were stilled

and the mourners found her

singing out from their sisters mouths

from their mothers toughness

from the funky dust in the corners

of sunday church pews

sweet and dry and simple

and that hated sunday morning fussed over feeling

the songs

singing out from their mothers toughness

would never threaten the lord’s retribution

any more.

Now she was safe

acceptable

that big Mahalia

Chicago turned all out

to show her that they cared

but her eyes were closed

And although Mahalia loved our music

nobody sang her favorite song

and while we talked about

what a hard life she had known

and wasn’t it too bad Sister Mahalia

didn’t have it easier

earlier

Six Black children

burned to death in a day care center

on the South Side

kept in a condemned house

for lack of funds

firemen found their bodies

like huddled lumps of charcoal

with silent mouths and eyes wide open.

Small and without song

six black children found a voice in flame

the day the city eulogized Mahalia.

O dia em que fizeram uma elegia a Mahalia

²

No dia em que fizeram uma elegia a Mahalia

os ecos de sua voz enorme se assentaram

e quem chorava a encontrou

cantando pela boca de suas irmãs

pela firmeza de suas mães

pela poeira dançando nos cantos

dos bancos dominicais da igreja

doce e seca e simples

e aquela manhã odiosa de domingo foi tomada por sentir

que as canções

cantadas da firmeza de suas mães

não ameaçariam a vingança do senhor

nunca mais.

Agora ela estava a salvo

aceitável

aquela Mahalia enorme

Chicago inteira se ergueu

para mostrar a ela que se importava

mas os olhos dela estavam fechados

E mesmo que Mahalia amasse nossa música

ninguém cantou sua canção favorita

e enquanto a gente comentava

que vida difícil ela teve

e que não foi tão mal Sister Mahalia

não ter sido fácil

mais cedo

Seis crianças negras

morreram queimadas numa creche

no South Side

mantida numa casa condenada

por falta de verba

bombeiros acharam seus corpos

feito pedaços amontoados de carvão

com bocas mudas e olhos bem abertos.

Pequenas e sem canção nenhuma

seis crianças negras acharam uma voz nas chamas

no dia em que a cidade fez uma elegia a Mahalia.

2 \ Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) cantora negra estadunidense, conhecida como A rainha do gospel, engajada nos movimentos pelos direitos civis. (N.E.)

Equinox

My daughter marks the day that spring begins.

I cannot celebrate spring without remembering

how the bodies of unborn children

bake in their mothers flesh like ovens

consecrated to the flame that eats them

lit by mobiloil and easternstandard

Unborn children in their blasted mothers

floating like small monuments

in an ocean of oil.

The year my daughter was born

DuBois died in Accra while I

marched into Washington

to a death knell of dreaming

which 250,000 others mistook for a hope

believing only Birmingham’s black children

were being pounded into mortar in churches

that year

some of us still thought

Vietnam was a suburb of Korea.

Then John Kennedy fell off the roof

of Southeast Asia

and shortly afterward my whole house burned down

with nobody in it

and on the following sunday my borrowed radio announced

that Malcolm was shot dead

and I ran to reread

all that he had written

because death was becoming such an excellent measure

of prophecy

As I read his words the dark mangled children

came streaming out of the atlas

Hanoi Angola Guinea-Bissau Mozambique Pnam-Phen

merged into Bedford-Stuyvesant and Hazelhurst Mississippi

haunting my New York tenement that terribly bright summer

while Detroit and Watts and San Francisco were burning

I lay awake in stifling Broadway nights afraid

for whoever was growing in my belly

and suppose it started earlier than planned

who would I trust to take care that my daughter

did not eat poisoned roaches

when I was gone?

If she did, it doesn’t matter

because I never knew it.

Today both children came home from school

talking about spring and peace

and I wonder if they will ever know it

I want to tell them that we have no right to spring

because our sisters and brothers are burning

because every year the oil grows thicker

and even the earth is crying

because Black is beautiful but currently

going out of style

that we must be very strong

and love each other

in order to go on