O Meu Primeiro Amor

pen and colour marker on paper

(278x375mm)

not for sale

Ai quem me dera

Ter outra vez vinte anos

Ai como eu era

Como te amei, santo Deus!

Meus olhos

Pareciam dois franciscanos

À espera

Do sol que vinha dos teus

Beijos que eu dava

Ai como quem morde rosas

Quanto te esperava

Na viva que então vivi

Podiam acabar os horizontes

Podiam secar as fontes

Mas não vivia sem ti

Ai como é triste

De o dizer não me envergonho

Saber que existe

Um ser tão mau, tão ruim,

Tu que eras

Um ombro para o meu sonho

Traíste o melhor que havia em mim

Ai como o tempo

Pôs neve nos teus cabelos

Ai como tempo

As nossas vidas desfez

Quem me dera

Ter outra vez desenganos

Ter outra vez vinte anos

Para te amar outra vez!

"The Embrace" by Mark Doty

water colour and colour marker on paper

(149x210mm)

You weren't well or really ill yet either;

just a little tired, your handsomeness

tinged by grief or anticipation, which brought

to your face a thoughtful, deepening grace.

I didn't for a moment doubt you were dead.

I knew that to be true still, even in the dream.

You'd been out--at work maybe?--

having a good day, almost energetic.

We seemed to be moving from some old house

where we'd lived, boxes everywhere, things

in disarray: that was the story of my dream,

but even asleep I was shocked out of the narrative

by your face, the physical fact of your face:

inches from mine, smooth-shaven, loving, alert.

Why so difficult, remembering the actual look

of you? Without a photograph, without strain?

So when I saw your unguarded, reliable face,

your unmistakable gaze opening all the warmth

and clarity of you--warm brown tea--we held

each other for the time the dream allowed.

Bless you. You came back, so I could see you

once more, plainly, so I could rest against you

without thinking this happiness lessened anything,

without thinking you were alive again.

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved

pen and colour pencil on paper

210x297mm

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

pen and colour pencil on paper

210x297mm

Your lips drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue.

pen and colour pencil on paper

210297mm

but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber

pen on paper

210x297mm

I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste

pen and water colour on paper

210x297mm

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth

pen and colour pencil on paper

210x297mm