Beautifully expressed sentiments !
At my age and situation in life , this is exactly how I too feel !
But I never could have expressed myself as eloquently as this Brazilian poet in his poem “My Soul has a Hat” ! I take my own hat off to this poet’s thoughts! 👍✅👏👏👏🙏
PS: And please note that the poem ends with a line that says we have 2 lives and the second begins when you realise you have only one ☝️. I am a Vedic Brahmin … and I am “twice born” … a “Dwija” with 2 lives …. and that’s why perhaps I believe I understand the significance the poet’s mind seeks to convey !🤗🙏
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Poem by Mario de Andrade (San Paolo 1893-1945) Poet, novelist, essayist and musicologist. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism.
I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by, than I have lived so far.
I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first, he ate them with pleasure but when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.
I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up.
My time is too short: I want the essence; my spirit is in a hurry. I do not have much candy in the package anymore.
I want to live next to humans, very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumphs and who take responsibility for their actions. In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty.
It is the essentials that make life useful.
I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul.
Yes, I’m in a hurry. I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.
I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts. I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far.
My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.
We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you only have one.
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Everything about the poem above I wrote I now remember was written by me in a rather pensive moment LAST YEAR … same day today !
Today I’m still alive after a year in a world that got hit and devastated by a pandemic …
Nearly 2.5 million have perished …
I feel I’ve had now a 3rd life to lead well and wisely …
The 2 lives I’ve enjoyed so far seem like such insufficient, incomplete, inept preparation..
😒😏
Sudarshan Madabushi