“The Phantasmal Canoe” by Castro Alves

Castro Alves was a Brazilian poet and playwright. His abolitionist writing won him the epithet of “O Poeta dos Escravos” (“The Poet of the Slaves”).

Coming through the fearful shadows
Where is it bound, that canoe?
Is it sailing manned or is it lost?
Does it travel true or float adrift?

Like the trunk of some vast palm
It glides silently along
In the midst of the stream:
Oh, how that ship does float!

But no flash of its white sail!
No slap of oars upon the water!
Are these ghosts that come nearer
In the solitary boat?

What dark figure is this standing
Cold and still there at the prow?
It seems a demon of the shadows
Of hell commands that scow!

Was it a vision? Ah, poor child!
A glimpse by filtered starlight:
Is it your corpse, Maria dear,
That travels on that boat?

Fallen, pallid, white!
And no one here to mourn!
Her long hair drags along
In the wake of that canoe!

And pink flowers of the gulfs,
Poor blooms from bleak lagoons,
They curl themselves up in her hair
And follow the canoe!

—Translated by David Bowles
March 14, 2014

Original Portuguese

A canoa fantástica

Pelas sombras temerosas
Onde vai esta canoa?
Vai tripulada ou perdida?
Vai ao certo ou vai à toa?

Semelha um tronco gigante
De palmeira, que s’escoa…
No dorso da correnteza,
Como bóia esta canoa!…

Mas não branqueja-lhe a vela!
N’água o remo não ressoa!
Serão fantasmas que descem
Na solitária canoa?

Que vulto é este sombrio
Gelado, imóvel, na proa?
Dir-se-ia o gênio das sombras
Do inferno sobre a canoa!…

Foi visão? Pobre criança!
À luz, que dos astros coa,
É teu, Maria, o cadáver,
Que desce nesta canoa?

Caída, pálida, branca!…
Não há quem dela se doa?!…
Vão-lhe os cabelos a rastos
Pela esteira da canoa!…

E as flores róseas dos golfos,
— Pobres flores da lagoa,
Enrolam-se em seus cabelos
E vão seguindo a canoa!…

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