02 agosto, 2025

Palavras lidas #632

Woman with a Hole in Her Stocking
by Anya Krugovoy Silver

Such a universal female gesture,
a woman grabbing the seam of her stocking,
tugging it forward over the exposed toe,
tucking it under her foot so the tear won’t show.
There’s something graceful and humble
about the way she will balance, crane-like,
on one foot, cradling the other in her hand,
her back bent, her face tilted downward,
trying to hide the damage of the splintered
floorboard, or untrimmed toenail.
Sometimes, while she’s leaning over,
a strand will float loose from its ponytail.
Then she’ll stand, recombing her hair
with her hands, repair after tiny repair.

01 agosto, 2025

Ditto #627

I sometimes joke that my greatest shortcoming as a writer is that I had an extremely happy childhood

--Anna Quindlet

30 julho, 2025

Sem título #358

Inference based on observables

27 julho, 2025

Parece que estou a ouvir #503

Weigenlied
Brahms, 1868

Guten Abend, gut' Nacht,
mit Rosen bedacht,
mit Näglein besteckt,
schlupf' unter die Deck':
Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,
wirst du wieder geweckt.

Guten Abend, gut' Nacht,
von Englein bewacht,
die zeigen im Traum
dir Christkindleins Baum:
schlaf nun selig und süß,
schau im Traum's Paradies.
___________

Good evening, good night,
With roses covered,
With cloves adorned,
Slip under the covers.
Tomorrow morning, if God wills,
you will wake once again.

Good evening, good night.
By angels watched,
Who show you in your dream
the Christ-child's tree.
Sleep now blissfully and sweetly,
see paradise in your dreams.

23 julho, 2025

Espantos #698

Voltas e mais voltas, borregagem e finalmente Lisboa

Conselhos úteis #23

Morning exercises

22 julho, 2025

21 julho, 2025

Palavras lidas #631

This is my letter to the World...
by Emily Dickinson

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me—
The simple News that Nature told—
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see—
For love of Her—Sweet—countrymen—
Judge tenderly—of Me

20 julho, 2025

Ditto #626

To restore the human subject at the center, we must deepen a case history to a narrative or tale; only then do we have a ‘who’ as well as a ‘what,’ a real person, a patient, in relation to disease.

--Oliver Sacks

18 julho, 2025

Sem título #356

The magnitude of stupidity

17 julho, 2025

Parece que estou a ouvir #502

La Folie
The Stranglers

Bonsoir

Ton véhicule n'a pas l'air d'avoir de passager
Peux-tu, veux-tu me recevoir
Sans trop te déranger
Mes bottes ne feront pas trop d'échos dans ton couloir
Pas de bruit avec mes adieux
Pas pour nous les moments perdus
En attendant un incertain au revoir

Parce que j'ai la folie
Oui j'ai la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie

Il était une fois un étudiant
Qui voulait fort, comme en littérature
Sa copine, elle était si douce
Qu'il pouvait presque, en la mangeant
Rejeter tous les vices
Repousser tous les mals
Détruire toutes beautés
Qui par ailleurs, n'avait jamais été ses complices

Parce qu'il avait la folie
Il avait la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie

Et si parfois l'on fait des confessions
À qui les raconter
Même le bon Dieu nous a laisse tomber
Un autre endroit, une autre vie
Eh oui, c'est une autre histoire
Mais à qui tout raconter
Chez les ombres de la nuit
Au petit matin, au petit gris
Combien de crimes ont été commis
Contre les mensonges et soi disant les lois du cœur
Combien sont là à cause de la folie

Parce qu'ils ont la folie
Ils ont la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie
Oui c'est la folie

La folie
La folie
La folie
La folie
La folie

16 julho, 2025

Coisas bonitas #201

Lisbon with pink skies after sunset

15 julho, 2025

14 julho, 2025

Caprichos #479

Um queimadinho para mim por favor

13 julho, 2025

Coisas bonitas #200

Beautiful calico kitten Gigi

12 julho, 2025

11 julho, 2025

Palavras lidas #630

Carrying Water to the Field
by Joyce Sutphen

And on those hot afternoons in July,
when my father was out on the tractor
cultivating rows of corn, my mother
would send us out with a Mason jar
filled with ice and water, a dish towel
wrapped around it for insulation.

Like a rocket launched to an orbiting
planet, we would cut across the fields
in a trajectory calculated to intercept—
or, perhaps, even—surprise him
in his absorption with the row and the
turning always over earth beneath the blade.

He would look up and see us, throttle
down, stop, and step from the tractor
with the grace of a cowboy dismounting
his horse, and receive gratefully the jar
of water, ice cubes now melted into tiny
shards, drinking it down in a single gulp,
while we watched, mission accomplished.

10 julho, 2025

Ditto #625

All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are.

--Pablo Neruda

07 julho, 2025

Parece que estou a ouvir #501

Beautiful James
Placebo

Bring me back to life
Never let me go
Your troubles and your heart strife
I saw them

Take me by the hand
As we cross through battlefields
Nobody understands
'Cause there's nobody at the wheel

Beautiful James
I don't wanna wake you
Beautiful James
I don't wanna wake you

Everybody lies
One-hundred times a day
The silence in your hard eyes
Is far too rare to give away
And it's exactly why I stay

Beautiful James
I don't wanna wake you
Beautiful James
I don't wanna wake you (don't wanna wake you)

Beautiful James (don't wanna wake you)
I don't wanna wake you (don't wanna wake you)
Beautiful James (don't wanna wake you)
I don't wanna wake you
Though I may have to
I may have to
I may have to

Beautiful James
I don't wanna wake you (don't wanna wake you)
Beautiful James (don't wanna wake you)
I don't wanna wake you (don't wanna wake you)
Beautiful James (don't wanna wake you)
I don't wanna wake you

06 julho, 2025

Sem título #354

Bumble-squirrell... why not?!

05 julho, 2025

03 julho, 2025

Espantos #697

Milo likes to join on scrabble night

02 julho, 2025

Palavras lidas #629

The Months
by Linda Pastan

March
When the Earl King came
to steal away the child
in Goethe's poem, the father said
don't be afraid,
it's just the wind...
As if it weren't the wind
that blows away the tender
fragments of this world—
leftover leaves in the corners
of the garden, a Lenten Rose
that thought it safe
to bloom so early.

April
In the pastel blur
of the garden,
the cherry
and redbud
shake rain
from their delicate
shoulders, as petals
of pink
dogwood
wash down the ditches
in dreamlike
rivers of color.

May
Mayapple, daffodil,
hyacinth, lily,
and by the front
porch steps
every billowing
shade of purple
and lavender lilac,
my mother's favorite flower,
sweet breath drifting through
the open windows:
perfume of memory-conduit
of spring.

01 julho, 2025

Ditto #624

Each culture has its own new possibilities of self-expression which arise, ripen, decay and never return.

--Oswald Spengler

30 junho, 2025

29 junho, 2025

28 junho, 2025

27 junho, 2025

Parece que estou a ouvir #500

Kings of Convenience

If you wanna be my friend
You want us to get along
Please, do not expect me to
Wrap it up and keep it there

The observation that I am doing could
Easily be understood
As cynical demeanor
But one of us misread

And what do you know?
It happened again

A friend is not a means
You utilize to get somewhere
Somehow I didn't notice
Friendship, it is an end

What do you know?
It happened again

How come no one told me
All throughout history
The loneliest people
Were the ones who always spoke the truth?

The ones who made a difference
By withstanding the indifference
I guess it's up to me now
Should I take that risk or just smile?

What do you know?
It happened again
What do you know?

26 junho, 2025

Verão #31

Girassóis ao sol
Sunflowers in the sun

25 junho, 2025

Verão #30

Longos dias de verão
claridade às 9.07pm

23 junho, 2025

22 junho, 2025

Verão #29

Cerejas frescas
(com um paninho (!) no frigorifico)

21 junho, 2025

Palavras lidas #628

Grace
by Linda Pastan

When the young professor folded
his hands at dinner and spoke to God
about my safe arrival
through the snow, thanking Him also
for the food we were about to eat,
it was in the tone of voice I use
to speak to friends when I call
and get their answering machines,
chatting about this and that
in a casual voice,
picturing them listening
but too busy to pick up the phone,
or out taking care of important
business somewhere else.
The next day, flying home
through a windy
and overwhelming sky, I knew
I envied his rapport with God
and hoped his prayers
would keep my plane aloft.

20 junho, 2025

Ditto #623

The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer.

--Ward Cunningham

19 junho, 2025

Primavera #208

Vêm uns dias mais quentes e as rosas aparecem
14-Jun
15-Jun
19-Jun

Coisas bonitas #197

4.19am: Coventry começa um novo longo dia

18 junho, 2025

17 junho, 2025

Retirado do contexto #437

No meio da correria que precede o comité de exames...
... uma aluna deixou um presente à porta do meu gabinete.

16 junho, 2025

Parece que estou a ouvir #499

No dia Internacional da Criança Africana, fica a recordação de We Are the World, lançada em Março 1985 (40 anos!) pouco depois do Live Aid de 1984.
We Are the World
Michale Jackson & Lionel Richie

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

Well, send them your heart
So they know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
And so we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
Oh, there's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

When you're down and out, and there seems no hope at all
But if you just believe, there's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well let us realize
Oh, that a change can only come
When we stand together as one (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

We are the world (we are the world)
We are the children (we are the children)
We are the ones who'll make a brighter day
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)
There is a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

Alright, let me hear you

We are the world (we are the world)
We are the children (said, we are the children)
We are the ones who'll make a brighter day
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a brighter day
Just you and me, come on now, let me hear you

We are the world (we are the world)
We are the children (we are the children)
We are the ones who'll make a brighter day
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me, yeah, yeah

We are the world (we are the world)
We are the children (we are the children)
We are the ones who'll make a brighter day
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)

There's a choice we're making
And we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

We are the world (one world)
We are the children (our children)
We are the ones who'll make a brighter day
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

We are the world, we are the world (we are the world)
We are the children, yes, sir (we are the children)
We are the ones that make a brighter day (we are the world)
So let's start giving (so let's start giving)

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me (ooh-ooh, dear, God)

We are the world (we are the world)
We are the children (we are the children)
We are the ones that make a brighter day, so let's start giving
Alright, can you hear what I say? (So let's start giving)
There's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day, just you and me

11 junho, 2025

Palavras lidas #627

Monet, Van Gogh, at Home
by Norita Dittberner-Jax

The wonder that Monet
had time to paint, the vast
size of the garden and across
the road, the Japanese pond,
a man enchanted with nature—
flowers, water, haystacks, and
light! A blind man's obsession
with light, every slant of the sundial
documented, time filtering
light.

What a life! Two wives
the second with six children!
No wonder the huge table
in the dining room, fourteen chairs,
all canary yellow; the blue-
and white-tiled kitchen, large
and commodious, festooned
with copper pots;
the large bedroom overlooking
the garden: to throw open
these shutters in the morning!
So much life!

Modest, difficult, van Gogh
thought himself one link in the chain
and took the yellow house at Arles,
on Place Lamartine, hoping
others would come. A table
and two chairs and just enough
left for broth and coffee.

Gauguin fled after two months
when Vincent chased him
with a razor. He painted
"Gauguin's Chair" empty except
for a lit candle, in memory
of the failure.

Toward the end, he painted
the vestibule near his room,
the yard where he was confined,
night sky from his window.

10 junho, 2025

Ditto #622

Each culture, has its own new possibilities of self-expression which arise, ripen, decay and never return.

--Oswald Spengler

08 junho, 2025

Primavera #207

Fascinantes pormenores da natureza