mass for the dead
Now that you've arrived here and you don't know that you died
I silently lament the plea for mercy
that justifies your actions while you were alive
and you never wanted to know about the death of others
for the divine death takes all without exception
repaying the cause in the effect of your life
and in the good or bad actions you performed
taking your being along the road that doesn't know where it's going
in the days consumed by the struggles that made you
too human for the suffering you caused
grounded by the caustic things that happen
without knowing where the salt that seasons us comes from
nor the light that turns us on and confronts darkness
seeking to return to the warmth of the creator womb
so that out of nowhere we were all and a divine mantle
protect our body like the shroud that covers you.
Januário Esteves was born in Coruche and was raised near Costa da Caparica,
Portugal. He graduated in electromechanical installations, uses the pseudonym Januanto, and has written poetry since he was very young. In 1987, he published poems in the Jornal de Letras, and participated over the years in some collective publications.