"Há também outros que vivem a maior parte do tempo junto do mar e dos rios, E são chamados Baetatá, que quer dizer 'coisa de fogo'. Não se vê outra coisa senão um facho cintilante correndo daqui para ali; Acomete rapidamente os Índios e mata-os." Padre José de Anchieta, Carta de São Vicente (1560)
No! Your eyes and skin are now of clay, pale and cold as the blades Of those who carved on your face, our lands, our hearts, and drained Life from our veins. They’ve brought us their shadows and the pain.
This sacrifice is for you, dark Father, great master of the world I do not see, The carcass is a gift that, with guilt, I now lay on this altar against the cruelty Of the men who took her away, defiled her spirit and poisoned my lips, And, to avenge all she suffered and bled at their hands, I invoked you, Jurupari.
Raise from where the mysterious waters, like darkness and light, disagree To slaughter your preys, ancient serpent of fire, Tatatendi-Sucuri.
Untamed and hungry like the southern wind that bends the trees, And snarling as wild thunderstorms, the laughter of Tupã and Amanaci, The serpent licked and blazed the tainted ground to make them bleed. They prayed. But their fate belonged to me. When the smoke lined red the bewitching stars, their desperate screams Tried to reach the skies but the Forest intervened and smirked.
Though they fought to stop the beast, its eerie strength was as if unreal, Against the fiery scaled skin, their shining blades had lost their will. Baetatá’s ten thousand eyes of ember, ghosts glowing in the night, Like burning nails piercing their flesh, in Death’s embrace, collected their sight. Their disfigured and quartered bodies squirmed and flooded the narrow streets, Mystical flames engulfed their souls reflecting on those crimson creeks.
And hatred drowned in grief.
The beast was gone from the scorched glade when the smoke started to dissolve But I glimpsed, in the woods, breaking through the murk, its mesmerising glow. I, too, turned my back at the gory scene, eyes and thoughts were lost away, Climbing down the hill, my mind was hers as I walked towards the bay. Whispering leaves rustled my doom until I reached the sand, When the air stopped and the Moon cried light. Black waters embraced my end.
As eternal night descends, My eyes of clay find yours again.Teksty umieszczone na naszej stronie są własnością wytwórni, wykonawców, osób mających do nich prawa.
