2021.06.18.
Serene Taste
I like what I am when I'm with youIt tastes like a deep, deep blue1
The fragrance of water
When I lean into you
The year freezes over in August
I fritter my days away with the taste of you
In my mouth, worn out from so much
Bitterness
Longing for the past that wears out the word2
Without savoring it
The word without tasting the word
I like who I was when I was with you
How frightening it was to lose you
The flooding river that I feel
When I look out at the coast
Thaws my regret, drop by drop3
I waste all my neurons on your face
Wearing out my bossa with so much attachment4
Reminiscence that disgraces the word itself
Without savoring
The word without tasting the word
- 1. 'Fundo azul' means 'blue background/core'. I tweaked it a little to make it make sense and also keep the poetic feeling of the original phrase. Of course, sadly, much of the poetry of the original was lost in translation.
- 2. You may very well have seen the word 'saudade' floating around the webs as an 'untranslatable' word. It's true that it IS very difficult, nigh impossible, to capture its full meaning in any simple English phrase. 'Saudade' means fondly remembering something or someone you had access to before but currently don't, and wishing you had it again. It doesn't necessarily mean something or someone that is gone forever and is used for just about everything, not just in romantic or dramatic contexts.
- 3. Literally it says 'Melts/thaws all the displeasure/regret. 'Melts' sounded wrong, I wanted to use a phrasing that would convey the feeling of something undoing itself or falling away slowly and coolly.
- 4. Here I am fairly certain she means 'bossa nova', the famous Brazilian musical genre. 'Amarrar' means attaching both physically and figuratively-- 'to tie (together), and also 'to get attached' to someone or something.