(2)) for whom these battles are fought and won.
These epic adventures hark back to the past as clearly as Gabriel, the guardian archangel ("arcanjo tutelar", (6)) is invoked. The name of one of Vasco da Gama's ships, it is no coincidence that it is he who leads the ships through the shining night, disturbed by the movement of the hull ("as naus, as caravelas, / Outra vez, pela noite, na ardentia, / Avivada das quilhas", (6)) between the no-man's-land of the severe, saddened, resigned souls of warriors, saints and poets ("almas tristes, severas, resignadas, / De guerreiros, de santos, de poetas", (6)). The warring rage of the rampant lion, a sword clenched in its teeth ("leão armado, uma espada nos dentes", (7)) is muted with a quiet elegy (at this point the maestro's baton softens the tone) to describe those who have been lost in battle ("os mortos da batalha" (7)), lying with their mouths agape, their open eyes reflecting the stars ("nos olhos abertos / Reflectindo as estrelas, boquiabertos" (7)).
Suddenly the incessant flute commences its poignant, painful solo to the refrain of a rondelrondo ("só, incessante", (8)). The orchestra ("A orquestra", (8)) which is silenced by the cautious night ("cauta, detém, (8)) gives way in ecstasy to the resonant flute, widowed and graceful ("flauta flébil", 8 "viúva, grácil", (8)) garlanded with sounds feigning time ("festões de som dissimulando a hora", (8)).
And once this bewitching solo has come to an end the poet delicately takes up another rondelrondo, leaving the sad, resonant weeping and wailing of the slender wooden instrument for the mournful, lulling chords of the viol. They are perhaps slightly monotonous in the constantly repeated leitmotiv but they weave an atmosphere of nostalgia into the idle talk ("parlenda", (9)).
Apart from these two beautiful rondos what other compositions did Pessanha write for his orchestra to allow it to show off its brilliance and versatility? They are shown in Clepsidra: the minuet of discreet ironies ("minueta de discretas ironias", (25)); the incomplete poem, "Fragmento de um Hino", where we are left wondering about the end just when the poem begins to gain pace in praise of Indra's gentle wife who is seated at his feet ("doce Esposa de Indra, sobre os dois pés sentada", (26)); the barcarolle which is mentioned in the sonnet "Fonógrafo".
The minuet, distinguished by its penta and hexasyllabic lines, portrays, discreetly and ironically, the soldier whose swaggering stance is not enough to conquer in matters of love. The poet, safely on firm ground ("sob a terra firme", (4)), ironically and discreetly jokes with the reader that nothing can hurt him ("de não lhe doer nada" (4)) yet on the surface the conflicts of the common mob ("torva ralé", (4)) explode savagely. Even more discreetly ironic, the poet realizes that he dreams not about the woman whom he finally possesses ("a que ele quis abraçar", (10)) but rather about the moment when he caught sight of her and fell in love ("A hora do jardim... / O aroma de jasmim... / A onda do luar...", (10).)
Ah, listen to the rocking cadences of the barcarolle in almost all of the musical accompaniments to Clepsidra. There is an powerful suggestion of the sea and ships, tossing and floating in the lines of Pessanha's poetry. The calm water ("água plana", (11)) and tranquil ocean ("pélago quieto", (12)) at times become choppy and the waves battle like the roaring of wild beasts ("as ondas lutam, como as feras mugem",(13)). The ship rolls up its sails and stops rowing, waiting for calm to return to the seas ("velhos ritmos que as ondas embalaram",(6) ). Then it lifts its anchor ("enfim, levantou ferro", (14)) and the engineman starts up the engine again ("maquinista dá mais força no vapor", (14)).
The string instrument which stands out in the performances of the barcarolles is possibly the 'cello. Its mournful strains are like agitated, winged bridges in a nightmare ("Convulsionadas / Pontes aladas / De pesadelo..." , (15)). We catch a glimpse of the river and the boats which pass below ("Por baixo passam, / Se despedaçam", (15)) and are smashed like shattered coffins ("urnas quebradas", (15))in a deep whirlpool ("sorvedouro", (15)) leaving only the wrecks of oars and masts ("lemes e mastros", (15)).
All of this beautifully orchestrated music reaches our ears and our hearts as if it were wrapped in perturbing cloud of opium, intoxicating and sensuous, filled with morbid oriental rhythms. We hear it, feel it and breathe it in like the delirious, drunken Chinese who sleepily inhale the tranquil smoke from their favourite long pipe ("Como os ébrios chineses delirantes / Aspiram, já dormindo, o fumo quieto / Que o seu longo cachimbo predilecto / No ambiente espalhava pouco antes...", (16)).
It should not be forgotten that, in the experts' opinion, Pessanha's exoticism predates his move to the City of the Name of God; that Clepsidra would have been exactly the same whether or not he had come to Macau. Well, if that's the case let it be so.
But nobody can deny that even if the poet owes nothing to Macau, Macau still owes much to the poet. If Macau did not influence Camilo Pessanha, he certainly influenced Macau.
Nowadays no one can read Clepsidra without being deeply moved by the poems, without catching a present day glimpse of the past amongst the castles with curving battlements ("entre castelos serpes batalhantes", (17)); without imagining himself going down the green hillsides covered in tender foliage ("em folhedos tenros", (18)); without feeling exultant or calmed, sensual or mystic in the tiny gardens ("jardins exíguos" (19)) by the languishing of nature ("enlanguescer da natureza", (20)) and trying to guess what is written in the eyes of the Macanese women ("oblíquo, o Sol" (21)); without sensing the overpowering sweetish smells while walking through the bustling markets ("obsessão de cheiro", (22) "adocicado", (22)); without being amazed by the blue and red glints of coughed up blood ("fulgurações azuis, vermelhos de hemoptise", (23)); without believing that the lion dance and the noisy fire-crackers really are imprisoned light and chromatic lunacy ("represados clarões, cromáticas vesânias", (23)); without distinguishing, under the pouring rain, the enchanting murmur of the dying water ("água morrente", (24)); without having the sensation of being drowned by the sun ("inundado de Sol", ) on the day of the sun ("dia de Sol",(25) ); without worshipping the soul of this gentle, good earth ("terra doce e boa",(26) ). The reader feels a constant pulsing of a fluid, inner, Debussy-like music: the flowing of the water in the clepsydra ("O correr da água na clepsidra",(26) ).
What a sublime task it is to translate into notes this music which seems to have been born from nothing more than words and symbols. Music produced, paradoxically, by someone whose greatest ambition was to slip away in silence ("deslizar sem ruído", (27)).
Here we have three Portuguese composers who have been tempted to try their hand!
Listen to the music of Clepsidra through the works of Lopes-Graça, Filipe de Sousa and Simão Barreto!
Feel the same excitement and pleasure as the reader who picks up Camilo Pessanha's poetry!
Feel, as the poet said, your soul fill with dreams ("sonhar - encher a alma", (28))!
REFERENCES
(1) - O Simbolismo na Obra de Camilo Pessanha, Barbara Spaggiari, Biblioteca Breve, Lisbon, 1982.
(2) - "Castelo de Óbidos".
(3) - "Rufando Apressado".
(4) - "Porque o Melhor, Enfim".
(5) - "Fonógrafo".
(6) - "San Gabriel".
(7) - "Depois da Luta e Depois da Conquista".
(8) - "Ao Longe os Barcos de Flores".
(9) - "Viola Chinesa".
(10) - "Se Andava no Jardim".
(11) - "Vénus II".
(12) - "Estátua".
(13) - "Vénus I".
(14) - "Roteiro da Vida I".
(15) - "Violoncelo".
(16) - "Desejos".
(17) - "Tatuagens Complicadas do Meu Peito".
(18) - "Desce em Folhedos Tenros a Colina".
(19) - "Quem Poluiu, Quem Rasgou os Meus Lençóis de Linho".
(20) - "Crepuscular".
(21) - "Paisagens de Inverno II".
(22) - "Roteiro da Vida III".
(23) - "Poema Final".
(24) - "Água Morrente".
(25) - "Foi um Dia de Inúteis Agonias".
(26) - "Fragmento de um Hino".
(27) - "Inscrição".
(28) - "Caminho III".
*Poet, playwright, essayist.