He said
traveling is being able to depart for the place
up ahead,
each place impressing us only because it suggests
the next one that will come into view.
And in the end, when we let go of everything
and hear nothing but the bells’ tolling,
the landscapes cease to exist, being no more
than our breathing set free.
“What impels us is our being able to bury
the body in another place;
since everywhere we’ve been we left our body
within sight of the place just beyond.”
I understood that, without showing any fear,
he’d discovered the world’s transparency,
he’d been helped by the hovering
faces of travelers.
And I remembered how time teaches us,
from early youth to old age,
to allow a pause in our eyes whenever beauty overwhelms,
a pause in our hands and eyes which are what tell us
the small part of us that always remains.
(Translation from the Portuguese: Richard Zenith)