Translation:Milky Way/Sonnet 13

by Olavo Bilac

"Well (thou'lt say) hearing stars! Certainly
Thou'st lost thy mind!" And I'll say to thee, however
That, to hear them, many times I wake
And open the windows, pallid in awe...

And we talk all night long, while
The milky way, as an open canopy,
Shines. And, at the coming of the sun, missing and crying,
I still look for them in the desert sky.

Thou'lt now say: "Crazed friend!
What dost thou talk to them? What sense
Has what they say, when they are with thee?"

And I'll say to thee: "Love to understand them!
Because only he who loves may have ears
Capable of hearing and understanding stars."