One important thing to remember when learning Portuguese is that the Lusophone world is goes much further than Brazil and Portugal. Cape Verde is a lusophonic country, with Portuguese being one of its official languages, and has an extremely rich culture, especially in its literature and music. Although some music and poetry is found in Cape Verdean Creole, there’s a great selection in Portuguese as well.
An example is Aguinaldo Fonseca’s work. He is a poet from São Vicente, Cape Verde. Here is one of his poems:
Círculo
Nascemos, morremos,
Tornamos a nascer em cada sonho, cada ideia, cada gesto.
Cada dia que chega é flor que se abre ao sol
Com novo cheiro, nova cor, nova beleza.
Nossos desejos são asas que se elevam
Cruzando o céu da vida em voo largo
Mas nunca chega, nunca páram
Enquanto corre o sangue e a vida cresce e rola.
O fim de um sonho é o começo de outro
Cada horizonte outro horizonte aponta,
E uma esperança morta outra esperança aquece.
Há magoas, alegrias, desesperos
E a gente insatisfeita
Enquanto ri ou chora
Ou canta ou fica triste
Vai nascendo, morrendo e renascendo
Cada dia, cada hora, cada instante
Noutra vida, noutro sonho, noutra esperança.*
Circle
We are born, we die,
We are born again in every dream, every idea, every gesture.
Every new day is a flower that opens itself to the sun
With a new smell, a new color, new beauty.
Our desires are wings that are lifted
Crossing through the sky of life off in flight
But never arriving, never stopping
While [our] blood runs and life grows and rolls.
The end of a dream and the beginning of another
Each horizon point to another horizon,
And at the death of one hope, another heats up.
There is heartbreak, happiness, despair
And we are not satisfied
While [we] laugh or cry
Or sing or are unhappy
We are born, die and born again
Each day, each hour, each instant
In another life, another dream, other hope.
*Noutra/o is a typical Lusophone African way of writing, “em outra/o,” and means “another,” or “other.”
