Oliver Simões (asker) Apr 22, 2022:

Phil, I have no reason to accept a translation that makes no sense for my context. If it appears to be a "trend", as you say, perhaps it's because there is also a trend of some folks not respecting the Asker's choice/decision. I wouldn't tell something is wrong unless it clearly is and the person keeps insisting it's not. I do extensive research before rejecting or accepting anything. That's the right way to do it, at least that's what works for me.

philgoddard Apr 22, 2022:

We seem to be getting into a pattern of your rejecting our answers and telling us we're wrong.

Oliver Simões (asker) Apr 22, 2022:

@Mark As a matter of fact, they all provide a workable translation, but none really answered the question(s) I had raised. Thank you, anyway.

Mark Robertson Apr 22, 2022:

@Oliver See my posts in your question "Criança, era outro... // Dorme comigo e em mim", which deal with the issues raised and provides a workable translation.

Oliver Simões (asker) Apr 22, 2022:

@Mark You are stating the obvious. That the article attempts to make a "linkage" between the two verses, I know. In my previous question, I pointed out a couple of analytical inconsistencies in the article. In other words, the article did not answer my question and neither have any comments or answers so far! Clearly, anyone who knows PT grammar realizes that these two sentences don't make sense together: "Criança, era outro... / Naquele em que me tornei", First, because splitting the subject and the predicate is totally ungrammatical. The way the verses are phrased makes "criança" an apposition on line 1. So, based on my observations, I came up with this interpretation: "Child, he was another... He dwells with and within myself". Lines 2 and 3 go together, with 3 being the subject: "I grew up and forgot / That which I have become" or something along those lines. I have yet to decide which translation fits better from a poetic/grammatical standpoint.

Mark Robertson Apr 21, 2022:

@Oliver The article you read and I posted refers to a linkage between these two verses:

Criança, era outro...
Naquele em que me tornei
Cresci e esqueci.
Tenho de meu, agora, um silêncio, uma lei.
Ganhei ou perdi?

Onde, em jardins exaustos
Nada já tenha fim,
Forma teus fúteis faustos
De tédio e de cetim.
Meus sonhos são exaustos,
Dorme comigo e em mim.

Mark Robertson Apr 21, 2022:

A stab When a child, I was different…
Not who I am now,
I grew and forgot,
I have a silence and a law now.
Have I won, or lost?

Oliver Simões (asker) Apr 21, 2022:

Folks What I'm looking for is not just a one-line translation. I need an explanation/interpretation of the line in question and also of the line in relationship with the others. Apparently, based on an article I had read (from which Mark quoted below), line 2 has no relationship with line 1. Line 1, on the other hand, is related to the last line of the second stanza! Also note: this article was no help for me, it did not clarify anything. On the contrary, it made things more confusing.

Mark Robertson Apr 21, 2022:

https://uniesp.edu.br/sites/_biblioteca/revista_te Este poema (bem como a maior parte dos quetematizam criança/infância) inscreve-se na lírica pessoana, assinada por ele mesmo (ou Fernando Pessoa ortônimo). Como poeta ortônimo a pluralidade atravessa a ponte, que leva do eu plural para a alteridade múltipla do “ser português”; quer no cantar plural (ritmos e formas tradicionais), quer no recorte aqui abordado, a “saudade”, marca legítima do sentir português, saudade da criança que foi, do tempo transcorrido, não em pranto lacrimoso, mas em presentificação que eterniza. O anacoluto “precioso” do primeiro verso da primeira estrofe que só se completará no último verso da segunda strofe: “CRIANÇA era outro ... dorme comigo e em mim”; só pode ser registrado pela concordância verbal. O leitor distraído pensa tratar-se dos sonhos, mas destes o poeta indica o esgotamento. “Cresci e esqueci”. A afirmação da criança ser o oposto do homem do presente, torna-se paradoxal, pois ela “dorme comigo e em mim”. O despertar está contido no dormir, o poeta deixa a incompletude para ser preenchida pelo leitor, que terá de optar pelo quê de subentendido permanece, na síntese do poeta. o eu perquiridor do poeta tece oposições: hoje silêncio, lei.