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Description
If I die young
Without being able to publish any book,
Without seeing the face of my verses in print
I ask that, if you want to worry about me,
Let them not care. If so it happened, so it is right.

Even if my verses are never printed,
They will have their beauty there, if they are beautiful.
But they cannot be beautiful and remain unprinted,
Because the roots can be underground
But the flowers bloom outdoors and in full view.
It has to be like this by force. Nothing can stop it.

If I die too young, listen to this:
I was never but a child who played.
I was as gentle as the sun and the water,
Of a universal religion that only men don't have.
I was happy because I didn't ask for anything,
I didn't even try to find anything.
I didn't think there was any more explanation.
That the word explanation has no meaning.

I wished nothing but to be in the sun or the rain —
In the sun when there was sun
And in the rain when it was raining
(And never the other thing),
Feel hot and cold and wind,
And go no further.

I once loved, I thought they would love me,
But I was not loved.
I was unloved for one big reason—
Because it didn't have to be.

I consoled myself by returning to the sun and rain,
And sitting again at the door of the house.
The fields, after all, are not so green for those who are loved.
As for those who are not.
To feel is to be distracted.

Álvaro de Campos

Description
If I die young
Without being able to publish any book,
Without seeing the face of my verses in print
I ask that, if you want to worry about me,
Let them not care. If so it happened, so it is right.

Even if my verses are never printed,
They will have their beauty there, if they are beautiful.
But they cannot be beautiful and remain unprinted,
Because the roots can be underground
But the flowers bloom outdoors and in full view.
It has to be like this by force. Nothing can stop it.

If I die too young, listen to this:
I was never but a child who played.
I was as gentle as the sun and the water,
Of a universal religion that only men don't have.
I was happy because I didn't ask for anything,
I didn't even try to find anything.
I didn't think there was any more explanation.
That the word explanation has no meaning.

I wished nothing but to be in the sun or the rain —
In the sun when there was sun
And in the rain when it was raining
(And never the other thing),
Feel hot and cold and wind,
And go no further.

I once loved, I thought they would love me,
But I was not loved.
I was unloved for one big reason—
Because it didn't have to be.

I consoled myself by returning to the sun and rain,
And sitting again at the door of the house.
The fields, after all, are not so green for those who are loved.
As for those who are not.
To feel is to be distracted.

Álvaro de Campos