A Sale Poem by UMBELINA FROTA Linhares Pimenta Bastos

Solitude!
Blackout!
I try to pull out of my chest
This sad heart.

To place it in a tray
And make a sale,
Who gives more?
Who gives more?
For this heart full of sweetness,
Solitude and memory?

Total silence
Everybody looks at,
They admire it,
They proclaim it,
It is pure, sincere, it dims our eyes,

It is a diamond… it is not for us,
Everybody moves away,
Alone my heart stays,
In a silver tray,
And
Its solitude! ...

(translated by Nelson Francisco de Andrade)