Autor: Carlos Nascimento Silva
Título: A Casa da Palma
Tradutor: Carlos Nascimento Silva
Data de entrada no site: 28/01/2009
.
* * *
A Casa da Palma: versão original
A Casa da Palma
Bartholomeu (I), 2
“Os cabelos louros de Brígida lançavam chispas douradas ao meio do reflexo do sol, na água parada da lagoa. Dobrada sobre si mesma, ela aproximava lentamente os dedos de um crustáceo que lhe fugia a cada tentativa de aproximação. Por diferentes motivos repetia-se, no mundo animal, o que se passava no humano. Como o caranguejo, ela sentia às costas o calor de João Sodré.
Ela a segurava com as mãos, pela cintura, a fim de lhe manter o equilíbrio. A caçada demorava a chegar a seu desfecho, e a anca de João Sodré colou-se, sozinha, aos quadris da moça vergada. Brígida imobilizou-se, presa de hipnose profunda. Não havia mais luz, céu ou fuga: o jogo terminara. João livrou-se da cinta de pano, sentou-se na fímbria da água e desceu, lentamente, o corpo de Brígida sobre o colo, uma única vez. A vida espumou “in vasu”, e o grito animal feriu o ar.”
* * *
Mariana (III), 3
“Don’Ana sentiu os bicos dos seios retesarem a camisa de dormir e passou os dedos sobre eles. Era como uma vibração que corria até a sola dos pés. Incomodava-a, enervava-a, ativava todo seu corpo, fulcrando sensações no ventre. Pernas dobradas, Don’Ana tensionou os músculos das coxas, apertando-as uma contra a outra. O corpo todo se incendiava; já agora não podia parar. Os músculos se contraíam e relaxavam, em alternância cadenciada. Os movimentos amiudaram-se e ela viu o braço forte de Sebastião apoiado no corrimão da escada: a musculatura bem desenhada, definida, no braço moreno. A dor no púbis foi aguda, enquanto os dedos borboletearam sobre os mamilos túmidos, túrgidos. Don’Ana abriu a boca, num gemido rouco e longo, o corpo enroscado, os músculos tensos. Depois, o relaxamento geral.
Ela pensou: “isto não suc’dia-me desde a meninice”. Ou já era em sonho que ela vivia?”
* * *
Mariana (VIII), 2
“Don’Ana passara o dia num meio torpor de pré-vigília. Em certo momento percebeu o que lhe parecia a presença de Mariana, sentada ao pé da cama, na penumbra do quarto, a olhá-la com um misto de lástima e preocupação. E de repente já não sabia quem era a filha, quem a mãe. Mas logo a seguir sentira-se deslizar para além dos limites da consciência, afundando lentamente num mundo de sombras esbatidas e sons distantes, no qual murmurava de forma constante um barulho de água corrente. Mais tarde, deu-se conta de estar de pé à porta do barracão dos trabalhos de couro. Havia algumas selas antigas dependuradas nos caibros de sustentação do teto, à altura dos seus olhos, algumas, feitas a meio, presas nas tesouras do colmo; Havia rabichos, rédeas, esticadores de estribo em couro, rebenques de variados tipos, freios, antolhos, cabrestos, uma floresta de apetrechos de montaria com suas ferragens que refletiam o brilho amarelo de uma candeia de torcida a óleo. Fazia frio e Don’Ana sentia o vento da noite a penetrar por baixo da camisa de dormir e a subir-lhe pelas pernas. Sentia a poeira fina do chão de terra batida, muito usado, à sola dos pés nus, infiltrando-se entre os dedos.”
INGLÊS:
A Casa da Palma: English Version
“The Palm-Tree House”
Bartholomeu (I), 2
“Brígida’s blonde hair projected golden sparks in the middle of the sun’s reflex, on the still water of the lagoon. Bent over herself, she was approximating slowly her fingers of a crustacean that kept on escaping from her at every attempt of approximation. For different reasons it was being repeated, in the animal world, what was happening in the human world. Like the crab, she was feeling on her back the heat of João Sodré.
He held her with his hands, by the waist, in order to maintain her balance. The hunt was taking long to reach its outcome, and João Sodré’s flank glued, all alone, to the curved young woman’s hips. Brígida immobilised herself, prey of deep hypnosis. There was no more light, sky or escape: the game was over. João got rid of his fabric strip; he sat down on the water fringe and lowered, slowly, Brígida’s body on his lap, just once. Life foamed ‘in vasu’, and the animal scream pierced the air.”
* * *
Mariana (III), 3
“Don’Ana felt her nipples tightening the sleeping chemise and passed her fingers over them. It was like a vibration that ran until the sole of her feet. It bothered her, enervated her, all her body was becoming activate, centring the sensations in her venter. Legs bent, Don’Ana making tension with her thighs’ muscles, pressing one against the other. The whole body burning; now she could not stop. Her muscles contracted and relaxed, in cadenced alternation. Her movements became frequent and she saw the strong arm of Sebastião relied upon the stair’s handrail: his musculature well drawn, defined, in the brown arm. The pain in her pubis was acute, while her fingers fluttered over the tumid nipples, turgid.
Don’Ana opened her mouth, in a hoarse and long moan, her body curled up, the muscles tense. Afterwards, the general relaxation.
She thought: ‘it did not happen to me since my childhood’. Or was it in a dream that she was living?”
* * *
Mariana (VIII), 2
“Don’Ana had spent the day in a half torpor of pre-vigil. In a certain moment she noticed what seemed to be Mariana’s presence, sitting on the bed’s edge, in the room’s penumbra, looking at her with a mix of sorrow and preoccupation. And suddenly she did not know anymore who was the daughter, who was the mother. But right after she had felt herself slip beyond the limits of conscience, sinking slowly in a world of attenuated shadows and distant sounds, in which murmured in a constant way a noise of current water. Later, she noticed she was standing at the door of the large shed of leather works. There were some old saddles held on the scantling of the ceiling sustenance, at the height of her eyes. Some of them, not finished, were tied to the scissors of the straw; there were cruppers, reins, stirrups stretchers in leather, whips of several kinds, bits, blinders, halters, a forest of mount equipment with its iron fittings that reflected the yellow shine of a hanging oil-lamp. It was cold and Don’Ana was feeling the evening wind penetrating under the sleeping chemise and going up her legs. She was feeling the thin dust of the very used-pounded ground, at the sole of her barefoot, infiltrating through her fingers.”
* * *
ALEMÃO
A Casa da Palma: em alemão
Das Palmenhaus
Bartholomeu (I), p. 30
“Brígidas blondes Haar warf Goldreflexe auf das Brackwasser der Lagune. Ihr Oberköper war vornübergebeugt. Langsam bewete sie griff, knapp entwischte – in der Tierwelt schien sich zu wiederholen, was zwischen den Menschen geschah. Wie ein Krebs fühlte sie die Wärme von João Sodré im Rücken.
Er hielt sie mit den Händen in der Taille fest, damit sie nicht das Gleichgewicht verlor. Die Jagd ging zu end. Das Becken von João Sodré heftete sich wie von selbst an das Hinterteil des Mädchens. Brígida verharrte reglos, wie hypnotisiert. Das Licht, der Himmel spielten keine Rolle mehr, Flucht war nicht mehr möglich: Das Spiel war aus. Jiao entledigte sich seines Stoffgürtels, liess sich in den Sand am Saum des wassers fallen und zog Brígida mit einem einzigen Griff auf seinen Schoss. Ein tierischer Schrei durchschnitt die Luft.”
* * *
Mariana (III), p. 81
“Dona Ana fühlte, wie ihre Brustspitzen sich hunter dem Nachthemd aufrichteten, und strich mit den Fingern darüber. Ein Zitterndurchlief sie bis zur Fu?spitze. Es ludihren ganzen Körper auf, kribbelte im Bauch. Mit hochgezogenenBeinen pre?te Dona Ana die Schenkel aneinander.Ihr Körper brannte; sie konnte jetzt nicht mehr aufhören. Die Beinmuskeln spannten und entspannten sich, in kurzen Abständen. Sie sah deb starken Arm von Sebastião, wie er sich auf dem Treppengeländer abstützte: die wohlgeformte, deutliche Muskulatur des braunen Armes. Der schmerz in der Schamgegend wurde stechend, während die Finger über die aufgerichteten, angeschwollenen Brustwarzen flatterten. Dona Ana öffnete den Mund zu einen rauhen, anhaltenden Stöhnen, ihr Körper war ganz verkrümmt, jeder Muskel angespannt. Dann kam die völlige Entspannung.
Sie dachte: Das ist mir seit Kindestagen nicht mehr passiert. Oder träumte sie da bereits?”
Mariana (VIII), p. 230
“Dona Ana verbrachte den Tag in einem Dämmerzustand. Irgendwann schien es ihr, als würde Mariana am Fu?ende des Bettes im Halbdunkel des Zimmers sitzen und sie mit einer Mischung aus Trauer und Sorge ansehen. Plötzlich wu?te sie nicht mehr, wer die Tochter und wer die Mutter war. Aber gleich darauf fühlte sie, wie sie in die Bewu?tlosigkeit abglitt, langsm tauchte sie in eine Welt aus blassen Schemen und fernen Klängen ein, in der standing Wasser rauschte. Ihr wurde bewu?t, da? sie an der Tür zum Sattlereischuppen stand. Hier gab es einige alte Sattel, die in Augenhöhe von den Dachsparren hingen, andere lagen halb fertig auf Holzböcken; es gab Schweifriemen, Zügel, lederne Steigbügelriemen, Peitschen aller Art, Sporen, Scheuklappen, Zaumzeug, eine unübersehbare Menge an Reitzubehör, in dessen Eisenteilen sich der gelb Lichtschein einer Talgleuchte spiegelte. Es war kalt, und Dona Ana spürte, wie der Nachtwind durch ihr Nachthemd drang und an ihren Beinen hochzog. Sie fühlte den feinen Staub des gestampften, ausgetretenen Bodens unter ihren blo?en Fü?en, der sich zwischen den Zehen festsetzte.”
* * *