Poems of Olavo Bilac

Through an online group of Brazilian homeschoolers, I came across this video of a young recitation of a poem by Olavo Bilac. His poems are wonderful and I memorized many in Catholic school in Rio, and I remember both memorizing and reciting this one! 

Here is the text:

O Pássaro Cativo by Olavo Bilac

Armas, num galho de árvore, o alçapão;
E, em breve, uma avezinha descuidada,
Batendo as asas cai na escravidão.

Dás-lhe então, por esplêndida morada,
A gaiola dourada; Dás-lhe alpiste, e água fresca, e ovos, e tudo:
Porque é que, tendo tudo, há de ficar
O passarinho mudo,
Arrepiado e triste, sem cantar?

É que, crença, os pássaros não falam. 

Só gorjeando a sua dor exalam,
Sem que os homens os possam entender;
Se os pássaros falassem,
Talvez os teus ouvidos escutassem
Este cativo pássaro dizer:

Gosto mais do alimento que procuro
Na mata livre em que a voar me viste;
Tenho água fresca num recanto escuro

Da mata entre os verdores,
Tenho frutos e flores,
Sem precisar de ti!

Pois nenhuma riqueza me consola
De haver perdido aquilo que perdi ...
Prefiro o ninho humilde, construído
De folhas secas, plácido, e escondido
Entre os galhos das árvores amigas ...

Solta-me ao vento e ao sol!

Com que direito à escravidão me obrigas?
Quero saudar as pompas do arrebol!
Quero, ao cair da tarde,
Entoar minhas tristíssimas cantigas!
Por que me prendes? Solta-me covarde!
Deus me deu por gaiola a imensidade:
Não me roubes a minha liberdade ...
Quero voar! voar! ... “

Essas cousas o passaro diria,

Se pudesse falar.
E a tua alma, criança, tremeria,
Vendo tanta aflição:
E a tua mão tremendo, lhe abriria
A porta da prisão...

My own translation:

(I wasn't able to find one online. I will ask Number Six to work on a better, rhyming version, as the rhymes in the original Portuguese are so wonderful.)

The Captive Bird by Olavo Bilac

On a tree branch, you set up a trap:

Soon, a little, careless bird,
the wings aflutter, falls into bondage.

You give it a splendid residence:

a golden cage.

You give him seeds, fresh water, eggs, you give it all.

But why, having it all,
is the little bird silent?

Shivering, sad, silent?

This happens because birds cannot speak.

By singing, only, their pain they express,

and men cannot understand it.

If birds could speak,

perhaps your ears would hear

what this captive bird is saying:

"I like best the food I find myself

In the bush were you saw me flying:

I have fresh water in a hidden spot.

In the bush, amid the greens,

I have fruits and flowers,
with no need of you!

No richness consoles me

of having lost what I have lost...

I would rather have the humble nest,

built of dry leaves, peaceful, hidden

between the branches of the friendly trees...

Let me go to the sun and to the wind!

What right do you have to keep me in bondage?

I want to salute the glories of nature!

I want, at dusk,

to sing my sad songs!

Why do you keep me bound? Free me, coward!
God has given me, for a cage, the immensity...
Do not take from my freedom!
I want to fly! Fly!"

These words the little bird would say,

Were it able to speak.

And your soul, child, would tremble,

Before such affliction:

And your hand, shaking, would open for him

the prison door...

Here is one I also loved when I was young, again with my own translation. 

Deus

by Olavo Bilac

Para experimentar Octávio, o mestre
Diz: “Já que tudo sabe, venha cá!
Diga em que ponto da extensão terrestre
Ou da extensão celeste Deus está!”

Por um momento apenas, fica mudo
Octávio, e logo esta resposta dá:
“Eu senhor mestre, lhe daria tudo,
Se me dissesse onde é que ele não está!”

God

by Olavo Bilac

To put Octavius to test, the teacher

Says: "Since you know it all, come here!
Tell me up to what point of this earth's expanse
or of even of heaven's expanse, God is!"

For a fleeting moment, he is silent

but soon, Octavius gives an answer : 

“I, myself, teacher, would give you the world,
If you would only tell me where He isn't!"