Fernando Pessoa was a Portuguese poet who wrote magnificently and he demonstrates it in this poem.
When I read this poem I can't help feel his sadness, yet it's a pain that he expressed so beautifully.
In this post you have both the original and the translated version. I can't read Portuguese, but it was fun trying to.
I Don't Know How Many Souls I Have- - by Fernando Pessoa.
Portuguese version
Não sei quantas almas tenho.
Cada momento mudei.
Continuamente me estranho.
Nunca me vi nem achei.
De tanto ser, só tenho alma.
Quem tem alma não tem calma.
Quem vê é só o que vê.
Quem sente não é quem é.
Atento ao que sou e vejo,
Torno-me eles e não eu.
Cada meu sonho ou desejo,
É do que nasce, e não meu.
Sou minha própria paisagem,
Assisto à minha passagem,
Diverso, móbil e só.
Não sei sentir-me onde estou.
Por isso, alheio, vou lendo
Como páginas, meu ser.
O que segue não prevendo,
O que passou a esquecer.
Noto à margem do que li
O que julguei que senti.
Releio e digo, «Fui eu?»
Deus sabe, porque o escreveu.
English version
I don’t know how many souls I have.
I’ve changed at every moment.
I always feel like a stranger.
I’ve never seen or found myself.
From being so much, I have only soul.
A man who has soul has no calm.
A man who sees is just what he sees.
A man who feels is not who he is.
Attentive to what I am and see,
I become them and stop being I.
Each of my dreams and each desire
Belongs to whoever had it, not me.
I am my own landscape,
I watch myself journey -
Various, mobile, and alone.
Here where I am I can’t feel myself.
That’s why I read, as a stranger,
My being as if it were pages.
Not knowing what will come
And forgetting what has passed,
I note in the margin of my reading
What I thought I felt.
Rereading, I wonder: “Was that me?”
God knows, because he wrote it.
the string of words from your poem is very beautiful and very nice to read
Hi joseph,
I would like to be able to read in Portuaguese since it probably expresses closer in meaning what the poet wanted to express.
The poem is bit hard for me to figure out exactly what the poet is trying to express but sounds like be is trying to find himself but sad he can't but he thinks God know him?
I think that you are on point with this one. You do understand after all. I think.
Really? Thanks for affirmation on my understanding of above content.
nice poetry..
Great read 👍🏼
Nice, upvoted and resteemed
I love Fernando Pessoa's poems so much...
I can feel the subtlety of his soul...
Thanks for sharing....😍😍
Nice post and deep as a contemplation.
your post make us must think how can we make journey in our life without God. Even in our life we don't know who we are, where we go for..
but we sure that God has writen our destiny.
I can say that If we don't know what god's will it's better to believe in his way.
Beautiful poem!!!!
-cheers-
I guess this poem can be interpreted in many ways. And I will be a bit presumptuous and claim that I understand what Fernando Pessoa is saying and say that we have all been in this place before. A place where one is trying to find out where he/she is. Life can be a bit confusing at times.
The answers are never as forthcomiming as we would like them to be, but I guess it is merely a place along the way.
Writer like Fernando Pessoa tend to go where many are loath to and I can only contemplate one thing. I will phrase it in a question:
What wound is he trying to excavate? As a reader, I guess this is the question that preoccupies me. But who knows, I guess we all have to bring our interpretation to bear on this piece. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! so amazing, never have i read Fernando Pessoa's poem. Am so loving this and would want to be seeing more of It. By the way i also do poetry and it's not been long i got here on steemit. You can check me out dear, i recently made a poem about mothers
Very nice one