If I could take a bite of the whole earth

If I could take a bite of the whole earth

And get a taste of it,

I be happier for a moment . . .

But I don’t always want to be happy.

One must be unhappy now and then

Just to be able to be natural . . .

Not every day is fair,

And when there’s a drought, you look for rain.

That’s why I take the happy with the sad

Naturally, like someone not surprised

There are mountains and plains,

Rocks and grass . . .

One must be natural and easy,

Take the happy with the sad,

Feel as one looks,

Think as one talks,

And, when it is time to die, remember the day dies too,

And, the sunset is beautiful, and beautiful to the enduring night . . .

That’s how it is, and so be it . . .

By Alberto Caeiro*

heteronym of Fernando Pessoa 

Translated from Portuguese by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown