Beyond God

   1. The Abyss

I watch the Tagus in such a way

That my watching forgets I’m watching

And suddenly this strikes me

Against my daydreaming —

What is it, river-being flowing?

What is it, my-being-here and watching?

I feel almost nothing suddenly,

Time and place both emptied,

Everything gone hollow suddenly–

Even my being here and thinking,

Everything — myself, the world around me —

Remains more than external.

In everything the being and remaining, lost,

And vanished from my thinking,

I am powerless to link

Being, idea, soul, by name

To myself, the earth, the heavens  . . .

And suddenly face God . . .

by Fernando Pessoa 

Translated from Portuguese by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown