218

By Ricardo Reis

Translated By Margaret Jull Costa & Patricio Ferrari

Translated from the Portuguese

11 October 1934

I love what I see because one day

I will cease to see it.

And simply because it is.

In this placid interval in which I feel my existence,

More because I love than because I am,

I love both everything and myself.

They could give me nothing better were they to return,

Those primitive gods,

Who also know nothing.

Notes:

Translation copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 by Margaret Jull Costa and Patricio Ferrari. Used by permission of New Directions.

Read the translator's note by Margaret Jull Costa and Patricio Ferrari.

Source: Poetry (January/February 2026)