in the middle of the road

i've always been intrigued about this poem. i thought it would be amusing to post it here and see if there are any reactions just as an experiment to promote some conversation.

In the middle of the road
Carlos Drummond de Andrade

In the middle of the road there was a stone
there was a stone in the middle of the road
there was a stone
in the middle of the road there was a stone.

Never should I forget this event
in the life of my fatigued retinas.
Never should I forget that in the middle of the road
there was a stone
there was a stone in the middle of the road
in the middle of the road there was a stone.

I suspect this poem would sound more mellifluous in the original language... Portuguese?

portuguese yes. i suspect you are right. drummond de andrade was a brazilian modernist if i am not mistaken. i've come across this poem in different anthologies. what attracts me i guess is the repetition, the insistence.

No meio do caminho tinha uma pedra
tinha uma pedra no mei do caminho
tinha uma pedra
no meio do caminho tinha uma pedra.

Nunca me esquecerei desse acontecimento
na vida de minhas retinas tão fatigadas.
Nunca me esquecerei que no meio do caminho
tinha uma pedra
tinha uma pedra no meio do caminho
no meio do caminho tinha uma pedra.

Beautiful. Unfortunately, speaking no Portuguese I murdered that most lovely language by reading the poem aloud in a mixture of Spanish and Italian pronunciation; even so, it is even more striking in its 'repetition, ... insistence' in the Portuguese, and for some reason immediately brought to my mind the opening lines of Lorca's El Lagarto Viejo:

En la agostada senda
he visto al buen lagarto
(gota de cocodrilo)
meditando.

In the parched path
I have seen the good lizard
(one drop of crocodile)
meditating.

>4 thanks for the original mmcm. makes me think that the musicality must be an important element. i does look a bit more compact, doesn't it?

>5 thrin, thank you. your lorca poem reminded me in turn of dh lawrence's "snake". i guess it is that element of encounter. in addition to the blocking of a road/path. i just realized that for some reason i assumed that the poem was taking place at noon. maybe i was thinking of that other poem or maybe it was the repetition of "middle". not sure.

This is quite thought-provoking. I don't remember Lawrence's "snake" poem mejix. Could you provide a few lines? And I think it might well have been at noon, and probably with cicadas.

well you know im just free associating. i am not familiar with that lorca poem. "snake" is one of my all time fave poems. here's a link:
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/dhl.snake.html

Thanks mejix. A wonderful poem. Not sure about the cicadas in Lawrence's poem... Quite positive about them in Lorca's (I'm just free associating too.)

Yes it is about lifes great stumbling block the thing you can't get past, it blocks your progress. The road of life is never clear there is always a stumbling block difficult to get around. More than that when you think its all clear there it is again hence the line 'Never should I forget'
He acheives his end by repetition how sick he is of seeing that stone blocking his progress even his retina is fatigued when will it end?
The solution for him is to cast his eyes upward to see more than the road, to look around, to live inspite of the stumbling block.For experience teaches us somethings have to be purposely put aside before they obsess us and ruin our lives.

cute poem

>10 Magnocrat

Thanks for your thoughts. I have a couple of stumbling blocks in the road at the moment (well, "stumbling pebbles" really), and you reminded me of the value in retaining an awareness of the broader landscape.

>10

magnocrat i completely missed your post, so sorry. i like your reading. the association of the road and the destiny makes perfect sense. rereading it just now i feel that the repetition makes things evaporate somehow, and transform something very specific to something larger, mystical (?). its late at night and i'm rambling. anyhoo, thank you so much!