to Emily Dickinson
with my body I worship Thee
emily whispered in the breeze
watering at leisure the jasmine
a thrush perched on the shoulder
of the pine in whose shade
a verse ran free
with these words I worship You
world that my hand has recorded
day and night preserving its temperature
till it reached whoever you may be
outliving you probably bewildering your great
great grand-children or more bizarre
creatures I’m not able to imagine
although my nephew gilbert may hover
above those lands whose borders you marked
with rulers compasses wailings hands
semen slobber snot chains
I’m still able to remind you
© Translated by Ana Hudson, 2010
with my body I worship Thee
para Emily Dickinson
with my body I worship Thee
sussurrava na brisa emily
regando com vagar o jasmim
um tordo pousado no ombro
do pinheiro à sombra do qual
um verso livre se soltava
with these words I worship You
mundo que a minha mão registou
cuja temperatura dia e noite conservou
até chegar a vós quem sois e vos sobreviver
porventura os netos dos vossos netos desnortear
ou outras criaturas mais bizarras que
eu já não tenho o poder de imaginar
embora o meu sobrinho gilbert sobrevoe
essas terras cujas fronteiras haveis traçado
a régua a compasso a esquadro
a choro a sémen a baba a ranho a ferros
eu tenho ainda o poder de vos lembrar
Unpublished, July 2010
© Bénédicte Houart
