We came across these words and liked them enough to make a poster for our #surrender2poetry series. As we like to make sure we quote accurate sources, we searched for the original poem said to be in Portuguese. These words will need to stand alone for now, and as an example of how the internet plays Chinese Whispers with poetry specially when we cross the barriers of language. We have found several versions in Portuguese none of which end in the way this ‘translation’ does. We have found at least 2 potential authors Mario de Andrade or Ricardo Gondim; some sites tell us that is was first published by de Andrade in a collection called “Eu creio” but we could not find this collection. We could go on. Let us just end with: we could not find a source that reliably convinced us who the author was or what the original wording in the original language is. So, we just leave these words here as ‘Author Unknown’ for now. We are still searching for the definitive version.
Today, take time to read this and, irrespective authorship, reflect on what it can teach us about the ‘valuable time of maturity’…another potential title for the poem according to the interwebz.
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