A POEM BY FERNANDO PESSOA

Here is a poem by one of Fernando Pessoa' s heteronyms, Ricardo Caeiro, translated by Richard Zenith and seen in poetryinternational.com

The gods grant nothing more than life

The gods grant nothing more than life, So let us reject whatever lifts us             To unbreathable heights,             Eternal but flowerless. All that we need to accept is science, And as long as the blood in our veins still pulses             And love does not shrivel,             Let us go on Like panes of glass: transparent to light, Pattered by the sad rain trickling down,             Warmed by the sun,             And reflecting a little.