You, whose coming is so gentle that it resembles a departure,

Whose ebb and flow of darkness, when the moon exhales,

Contains waves of dead affection, cold as a sea of dreams,

Breezes from landscapes fashioned to calm our excess of anxiety . . .

You, palely, you, feebly, you, liquidly, or in the form of a numbing vapour,

The smell of death among flowers, the whiff of fever on river banks,

You, the queen, you, the chatelaine, you, the pale lady, come . . .

From the closing section of Ode Marítima (1916) Pessoa writing as Álvaro de Campos. Translation: Margaret Jull Costa

Tu, cuja vinda é tão suave que parece um afastamento,

Cujo fluxo e refluxo de treva, quando a lua bafeja,

Tem ondas de carinho morto, frio de mares de sonho,

Brisas de paisagens supostas para a nossa angústia excessiva…

Tu, palidamente, tu, flébil, tu, liquidamente,

Aroma de morte entre flores, hálito de febre sobre margens,T

u, rainha, tu, castelã, tu, dona pálida, vem…