In All, There Were Three Things

de todo, quedaron tres cosas:

la certeza de que estaba siempre comenzando,
la certeza de que había que seguir
y la certeza de que sería interrumpido
antes de terminar.

 
Hacer de la interrupción un camino nuevo,
hacer de la caida, un paso de danza,
del miedo, una escalera,
del sueño, un puente, de la búsqueda,...un encuentro

by Angelo Sabino 

In all, there were three things:

the certainty one is always beginning 

the certainty one must go further

and the certainty that one will be interrupted before finishing.

From the interruptions, to make a new path,

from falling, a dance step,

from fear, a ladder

from dream, a bridge, from search...the encounter

Translated by Cecilia Ramon and Sheila Packa

These words were originally written as prose by the Italian writer Angelo Sabino (15th century). The work A Time to Meet was translated by John Procter and the novel was published in 1967 by Souvenir Press. Cecilia found this poem in a Portuguese translation, and it does seem more beautiful in poetic form. Initially, we thought that the poet Pessoa was the source of these lines, but this is not so.  Perhaps he had quoted them once, or maybe he also translated them. We are not able to verify his connection here.  

The prolific poet Sabino in the 15th century had been accused of plagiarism or forgery. He was known to write in Ovidian patterns, and he wrote a few poems that he claimed were Ovid's, and those were later published in a collection of Ovid's Heroides. Later, Sabino's work was identified. Also it is an interesting detail that Pessoa wrote poems under several names, heteronyms. He had over 70 different names with different styles, different histories, cultures, and perspectives. It was neither plagiarism nor forgery. Perhaps one could call them masks, or it was something deeper, multiple identities. Perhaps it was his way of questioning the concept of self. The two poets, although separated by centuries and geographic locations, do have something in common - a tendency toward exploration of another's mind or psyche. 

Sabino's "In All, There Were Three Things"  expresses the frustrations of being a writer or artist. I post them here to remind myself of the fact that each new project has these three things.  Art is capability, and maybe the best art flourishes in the tension between failure and success. The writer or artist learns how to use limitations productively in the service of creating the new work. In my mind, the best artists and writers are always exploring  -- whether that is beings, objects or obstacles -- and learning new approaches, techniques, and methods.  I remind myself -- so easy to forget -- that I had once named muse: Seek. 

 To see more about the 15th century poet in Wikipedia: Angelo Sabino.