Foreign Words - Celso de Alencar


Lou Reed Morreu

To Arruda and Alzira E

It was a picnic like Sunday at Lake Alice.
The woman with the tattooed arms
came in despair yelling, to her friends
who drank orange juice sitting in a large towel.
Lou Reed is death. Death is Lou Reed.
And they hugged and cried and suddenly the waters of the lake
started to bubble and all the people, with no exception,
who were there, felt the dripping hot water over their bodies.
And all the old men
more than one hundred and forty old men
all over sixty-five years
they hold hands and under deep tears
They sang Vicious
and they were joined by the three friends
and the children and their parents and the puppies.
Everyone were singing and crying when the waters calmed down
and then a strong scent of wild rosemary hovered the air
but there was no rosemary shrubs on the shores of Lake Alice.
It was all very weird as there was no wind, nor birds
carrying rosemary leaves in their long colorful beaks.


Lou Reed Died

Para Arruda e Alzira E

Era um domingo de piquenique no Lago Alice.
A mulher com os braços tatuados
chegou gritando, desesperada, para suas amigas
que bebiam suco de laranja sobre uma grande toalha.
O Lou Reed morreu. Morreu o Lou Reed.
E elas se abraçaram e choraram e de repente as águas do lago
começaram a borbulhar e todas as pessoas, sem exceção,
que ali se encontravam, sentiram pingos de água quente sobre seus corpos.
E todos os homens velhos
mais de cento e quarenta velhos
todos com mais de sessenta e cinco anos
deram-se as mãos e debaixo de intensas lágrimas
cantaram a musica
Vicious
e a eles se juntaram as três amigas
e as crianças e seus pais e os cachorrinhos.
Todos cantavam e choravam quando as águas se acalmaram
e então um forte perfume de alecrim selvagem surgiu no ar
mas não havia pés de alecrim nas margens do Lago Alice.
Foi tudo muito estranho pois não havia ventania, nem pássaros
transportando folhas de alecrim em seus longos bicos coloridos.