Dar nome aos gatos é um assunto traiçoeiro,
E não um jogo que entretenha os indolentes;
Pode julgar-me louco como o chapeleiro,
Mas a um gato se dá TRÊS NOMES DIFERENTES.
Primeiro, o nome por que o chamam diariamente,
Como Pedro, Augusto, Belarmino ou Tomás
Como Victor ou Jonas, Jorge ou Clemente
- Enfim nomes discretos e bastante usuais.
Há mesmo os que supomos soar com som mais brando,
Uns para damas, outro para cavalheiros,
Como Platão, Admetus, Electra, Demétrio
Mas são todos discretos e assaz corriqueiros
Mas a um gato cabe dar um nome especial
Um que lhe seja próprio e menos correntio:
Se não como manter a cauda em vertical,
Distender os bigodes e afagar o brio?
Dos nomes desta espécie é bem restrito o quorum,
Como Quaxo, Munkunstrap ou Coricopato,
Como Bombalurina, ou mesmo Jellylorum...
Nomes que nunca pertencem a mais de um gato.
Mas, acima e além, há um nome que ainda resta,
Este de que jamais ninguém cogitaria,
O nome que nenhuma ciência exata atesta
SOMENTE O GATO SABE, mas nunca o pronuncia.
Se um gato surpreenderes com ar meditabundo,
Saibas a origem do deleite que o consome:
Sua mente se entrega ao êxtase profundo
De pensar, de pensar, de pensar em seu nome:
Seu inefável afável
Inefanefável
Abismal, inviolável e singelo Nome.
fonte: Livro do velho Gambá sobre gatos travessos.
T.S.Eliot, Obra Completa, vol 1, Poesia.
Tradução de Ivan Junqueira
Tradução de Ivan Junqueira
.......
The Naming of Cats, da autoria de T.S.Eliot.
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey –
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter –
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum –
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover –
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey –
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter –
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum –
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover –
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
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