Poema da Malta das Naus

I launched a log into the sea,
I stuck a stick and a sheet to it.
With a sailor's hunch
I measured the height of the Sun.

The wind favored me,
It took me to the end of the world.
A vagabond's ball,
Scrap of a jerkin.

I slept on the back of the waves,
I marveled at the edge of the beaches
I cursed, prayed curses,
I bit bullets and javelins.

I singed the hairy coat,
I had my body in living sores,
My gums cracked,
I rotted from scurvy.

With my left hand I blessed myself,
With my right I strangled.
A thousand times on the ground, I fought,
A thousand more I got up.

My rotten-toothed laughter
Echoed in the seven corners.
I founded cities and lives,
I broke chests and wineskins.

I trembled in the darkness of the jungle,
Still of sweats.
I spread on the sand and grass
Women of all colors.

I shaped the keys of the world
That others called their own,
But who plunged to the depths
Of the dream, that was me.

My taste is different.
I taste myself and I taste like salt.
One is not born unpunished
On the beaches of Portugal.