I’m reading a book called, “Como Transformar Defeitos em Virtudes,” and it claims to be a good humored view on the seven deadly sins… which so far it is! And each chapter for each sin starts off with a poem.
The first chapter starts off with a poem by Machado de Assis, one of Brazil’s greatest writers of all time, called “Círculo Vicioso.” Can you tell me from reading the poem below which sin it’s talking about and what the name of that sin would be in Portuguese?
| Bailando no ar, gemia inquieto vaga-lume:
- Quem me dera que fosse aquela loura estrela, que arde no eterno azul, como uma eterna vela! Mas a estrela, fitando a lua, com ciúme: - Pudesse eu copiar o transparente lume, que, da grega coluna á gótica janela, contemplou, suspirosa, a fronte amada e bela ! Mas a lua, fitando o sol, com azedume: - Misera ! tivesse eu aquela enorme, aquela claridade imortal, que toda a luz resume ! Mas o sol, inclinando a rutila capela: - Pesa-me esta brilhante aureola de nume… Enfara-me esta azul e desmedida umbela… Porque não nasci eu um simples vaga-lume? |
Dancing in the air, the firefly moaned restlessly:
- How I wish I was that blonde star, That burns in the eternal blue, live an infinite candle! But the star, gazing at the moon jealously: - Who am I to copy the transparent light, That from the Greek column to the gothic window, Contemplated, sighing, forehead beloved and beautiful! But the moon, gazing at the sun, sourly: - Misery! Had I that huge, that Immortal brightness, in which all live is summarized! But the sun, tilting its shining chapel: - This bright halo weighs down upon me… This blue and unmeasurable umbrella sickens me… Why wasn’t I born a simple firefly? |
