“Ah Margarida”

Ah Margarida,   

If I gave you my life,   

What would you do with it?   

       I’d take my earrings out of hock,

       Marry a blind man,

       And live on a tree-lined block.

         

But Margarida,   

If I gave you my life,   

What would your mother say?   

       (Her mother knows me inside out.)   

       She’d say you’re a fool,

       Without a doubt.

And Margarida,   

If I gave you my life   

Literally, by dying?   

       I’d go to your funeral, firmly believing

       You’d gone mad

       To try to love by not living.

         

But Margarida,   

If this giving of my life to you   

Were merely poetry?   

       In that case, forget it,

       The deal’s off,

       Because I don’t sell on credit.

                        Dictated by the Naval Engineer   

                                    Sr. Álvaro de Campos   

                                    in a state of alcoholic   

                                          unconsciousness.