Heraclitus on Vacation
Billy Collins
It is possible to stick your foot
into the same swimming pool twice,
dive, or even cannonball
into the deep or shallow end
as many times as you like
depending on how much you had to drink.
ARAR
Hell
Billy Collins
I have a feeling that it is much worse
than shopping for a mattress at a mall,
of greater duration without question,
and there is no random pitchforking here,
no licking flames to fear,
only this cavernous store with its maze of bedding.
Yet wandering past the jovial kings,
the more sensible queens,
and the cheerless singles
no satin sheet will ever cover,
I am thinking of a passage from the Inferno,
which I could fully bring to mind
and recite in English or even Italian
if the salesman who has been following us—
a crumpled pack of Newports
visible in the pocket of his short sleeve shirt—
would stop insisting for a moment
that we test this one, then this softer one,
which we do by lying down side by side,
arms rigid, figures on a tomb,
powerless to imagine what it would be like
to sleep or love this way
under the punishing rows of fluorescent lights,
which Dante would have surely included
had he lain on his back between us here today.
The Future
Billy Collins
When I finally arrive there—
and it will take many days and nights—
I would like to believe others will be waiting
and might even want to know how it was.
So I will reminisce about a particular sky
or a woman in a white bathrobe
or the time I visited a narrow strait
where a famous naval battle had taken place.
Then I will spread out on a table
a large map of my world
and explain to the people of the future
in their pale garments what it was like—
how mountains rose between the valleys
and this was called geography,
how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers
and this was known as commerce,
how the people from this pink area
crossed over into this light-green area
and set fires and killed whoever they found
and this was called history—
and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,
as more of them arrive to join the circle,
like ripples moving toward,
not away from, a stone tossed into a pond.
— The New Yorker, February 4, 2008.
Vou arrumar meu cabelo e vestir meu espartilho e um vestido de seda. Uma velha senhora nostálgica se transformará em uma avó segura de si. Cada um desempenha seu papel, entende? Alguns jogam de forma descuidada, outros jogam com muita atenção. Eu pertenço à ultima categoria,
- Helena em Fanny & Alexander (1982)
As coisas continuam a piorar. As pessoas, as máquinas, as guerras... Até o clima.
- Isak em Fanny & Alexander (1982)
Dê uma máscara a alguém e ele dirá a verdade.
- Oscar Wilde por Thaís Oyama em Linhas Cruzadas (20/08/2026)
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