THE UNNATURAL AND THE STRANGE
THE UNNATURAL AND THE STRANGE
The unnatural and the strange
Have a perfume of their own
Full of the constancy in chance,
Of the smile at heart a groan:
The unnatural and the strange
Have a perfume of their own.
Flowers are they in a vase
Of no human workmanship,
The unnatural that dismays
And the strange strong as a whip:
Flowers are they in a vase
Of no human workmanship.
They have the scent of troubled peace,
Of disturbed halls of joy,
This the scent they have, which is
A thing half to sting and cloy:
They have the scent of troubled peace,
Of disturbed halls of joy.
The unnatural and the strange
Have a perfume of their own
That of human flesh, of change
Made corruption without moan:
The unnatural and the strange
Have a perfume of their own.
Poesia Inglesa. Fernando Pessoa. (Organização e tradução de Luísa Freire. Prefácio de Teresa Rita Lopes.) Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, 1995.
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