EUGÉNIO ANDRADE

Eugénio de Andrade was born in 1923 in Povoa de Atalaia, a small village in Portugal close to the Spanish border. He published his first poem at the age of sixteen, his first book three years later. He has received every literary prize his country offers, as well as several international ones, including, by acclaim, the Portuguese language's most prestigious award, the Camoes Prize (2000), among whose previous winners are Jorge Amado and José Saramago.


STILL LIFE WITH FRUIT

Translated by Alexis Levitan

1.
The morning blood of raspberries
chooses the whiteness of linen to love.

2.
Morning filled with sparklings and sweetness
settles its purest face upon the apples.

3.
In the orange, the sun and moon
are sleeping hand in hand.

4.
Each grape knows by heart
the names of all of summer’s days.

5.
In pomegranates, this I love—
the stillness in the center of the flame.