Poems
190
I'm beginning to know myself. I don't exist.
I'm the interval between what I want to be and what others made of me,
Or half of that interval, because there's life too . . .
This, ultimately, is what I am . . .
Turn out the light, close the door, and wait for the sound of those
slippered footsteps in the corridor to go away.
Let me stay in my room alone with just the great peace and quiet of my self.
A cheap universe.
Fernando Pessoa
The Complete Works of Alvaro de Campos
translated by Margaret Jull Costa & Patricio Ferrari
New Directions, 2023
