Here is my attempt at translating
this, José Régio's Dark Chant, to English. It's not very good but, well, I tried.
Dark Chant
José Régio
"Come this way" - they say to me with sweet eyes,
Arms reaching for me, and certain
That it would be good if I listened to them
When they tell me: "come this way!"
I eye them with glazed eyes, *(1)
(there are, in my eyes, ironies and tiredness) *(2)
And I cross my arms,
And I never go that way...
My glory is this: to create inhumanity!
To not accompany anyone.
- For I live with the same dispassion *(3)
With which I tore my mother's womb
No, I won't go that way!
I'll go only where my own steps take me...
If what I seek to know none of you can tell me,
Why do you insist: "come this way"?
I'd rather slip in muddy alleys,
Be swept away by the winds,
Like rags, drag my bleeding feet,
Than go that way...
If I came to the world, it was
Only to brave virgin forests, *(4)
And draw my own feet on the unexplored sand! *(5)
All else I do is worth nothing.
How, then, will you be
The ones to give me impulse, means and courage*(6)
For me to overcome my own obstacles...?
Runs, in your veins, old blood of the Ancient,
And you love what is easy! *(7)
I love the Distance and the Mirage,
Love the abysses, the torrents, the deserts...
Go! You have roads,
You have gardens, you have flowerbeds,
You have a nation, you have roofs, *(8)
And you have rules, and treaties, and philosophers, and wise men...
I have my Madness! *(9)
I lift it, like a torch, burning in the dark night,
And I feel foam, and blood, and chants on my lips...
God and the Devil guide me, no one else!
Everyone had a father, everyone had a mother;
But I, who never begin or end, *(10)
Was born of the love between God and the Devil.
Oh, no one give me kind intentions,
No one ask me for definitions!
No one tell me: "come this way!" *(11)
My life is a storm that got loose,
It's another wave that arose,
It's one more animated atom...
I don't know which way I'm going,
I don't know where I'm going,
I know I'm not going that way!
Other possible translations:
* (1) - "I look at them with blank eyes (...)"
* (2) - In Portuguese, the nouns for "irony" and "tiredness" are, like the English ones, excusively singular. However, here the poet used both words in (incorrect) plural to add expressivity. I tried to do the same in English, but it doesn't really work for "tiredness" - tirednesses? Too weird. So I left it alone.
* (3) - "For I live with the same unwillingness (...)"
* (4) - The actual literal translation here would be "Only to deflower virgin forests (...)"
* (5) - The less literal translation would be "And leave my own footprints on the unexplored sand (...)"
* (6) - This one was hard. "The ones to give me momentum, tools and courage (...)" while more accurate, didn't sound so good.
* (7) - "And you love that which is easy! (...)"
* (8) - Sounds weird in English. "You have roofs". The alternative would be "ceilings", but that'd be weirder, and anyway you have the expression "not under my roof", so yeah...
* (9) - "I have my Insanity! (...)"
* (10) - "But I, with no beginning or end (...)"
* (11) - "Oh, don't give me (kind pity's intentions/pitiful intentions/pity) / Don't ask me for definitions! / Don't tell me: "come this way!" (...)"