mes inquiétudes
i cannot find comfort in habitual life
for as long as i can remember, i’ve tended to feel responsible for everything i could see or think of. i am constantly haunted by ideals. ideals of the order of things, of how the world could be organised. and i cannot say if there have been hundreds or thousands of superficially perfect worlds i’ve imagined to find calm. i’ve pondered over every ideal for as long as it took to find a flaw and ruin the world within itself. i couldn’t keep myself unaware enough to just witness all the beautiful things happening inside
it’s a pity that by finding one imperfection, the ideal could lose its singularity and my attention, but it’s also a pretty blessing. not only because i still have memories of some of those worlds and the feelings of deepest rest in them, but also because the process of searching could continue and a new ideal could be founded on my current needs
i tried to quit this habit, to ground myself in real life and enjoy simple things, to make peace with a feeling of miserableness and look at every wonder around me. it almost worked, but after some time i became even more anxious and restless, haunted not by my dreams but by numerous absurd flaws of the real world
i became even more aware of good and bad, of kind and mean, of attractive and disgusting
now i don’t think i want to leave behind all my restless attempts at outdreaming new worlds. i want to embrace them. but this time i want to leave the demand for perfection and seek little hopes and wonders, bring them into clear view to keep in my memory. i want to leave the desire for a calm ending and be endlessly restless
so now i am embracing it
mes lois
one of the main reasons i’ve decided to create this blog is my magnificent finding of this year. i’ve been searching for lyrics to a song i heard, but found a poem on a blog. i cannot find this blog now (if i remember correctly, it was on trendymood.com), but i want to thank the author for their article and work. it is because of your page that i decided to keep my thoughts and findings online for other explorers.
thank you for the piece and comfort, for the new discovery you once published that has guided me through this entire year. i love you
the poem “Os Estatutos do Homem”, written in 1964 by Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello, seeded a new ideal in my mind and heart, and i think it will rest there forever. i couldn’t find a good translation into Russian or English, so i translated it myself from French, because i really want to share it
The Statutes of The Human
Article I.
It is decreed that now truth matters,
that now life matters,
and that, hand in hand,
we will all work for the true life.
Article II.
It is decreed that all the days of the week,
including Tuesdays, the most grayest,
have the right to become Sunday mornings.
Article III.
It is decreed that, from this instant on,
there will be sunflowers in every window,
and that sunflowers will have the right
to open within the shadow;
and that the windows shall remain open all day,
open to the green where hope grows.
Article IV.
It is decreed that no one shall ever again need to doubt another.
A person will trust another person,
as the palm tree trusts the wind,
as the wind trusts the air,
as the air trusts the blue field of the sky.
Sole Paragraph.
A person will trust another person,
as a child trusts another.
Article V.
It is decreed that people are free
from the yoke of lies.
Never again will it be necessary to use
the cuirass of silence
nor the armor of words.
A person will sit at the table
with a clean gaze,
because truth will be served
before dessert.
Article VI.
Established for ten centuries
is the practice dreamed of by the prophet Isaiah:
the wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and their food will have the same taste of dawn.
Article VII.
By irrevocable decree,
the permanent reign of justice and clarity is established,
and joy will be a generous flag
forever unfurled in the soul of the people.
Article VIII.
It is decreed that the greatest pain
has always been and always will be,
not being able to give love to the one we love,
and knowing that it is water
that gives the plant the miracle of the flower.
Article IX.
It is permitted that the daily bread
may bear the mark of a persons’s sweat.
But above all, may it always have
the warm taste of tenderness.
Article X.
It is permitted for any person,
at any hour of life,
to wear white.
Article XI.
It is decreed, by definition,
that the human being is an animal that loves,
and is therefore beautiful,
far more beautiful than the morning star.
Article XII.
It is decreed that nothing shall be imposed or forbidden.
Everything will be permitted,
especially playing with rhinoceroses
and walking in the afternoons
with an enormous begonia in one’s buttonhole.
One thing remains forbidden:
to love without love.
Article XIII.
It is decreed that money
shall never again be able to buy
the sun of the mornings to come.
Expelled from the great chest of fear,
money will transform itself into a fraternal sword
to defend the right to sing
and the celebration the day that has come.
Final article.
The use of the word 'freedom' is forbidden.
It shall be erased from dictionaries
and from the deceptive marsh of mouths.
From this instant on,
freedom shall be something alive and transparent,
like a fire or a river,
and its dwelling shall always be
the human heart.
Thiago de Mello
1964
p.s. i don’t want to break the copyright law but i couldn’t find who is the current rights holder and how to properly write a citation and translation. so, please, contact with me if i did something wrong