I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear, nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever".

Henry David Thoreau, excerto de Walden

.

O Me! O Life!

O Me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring-What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here-that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

Walt Whitman
.

Pronto, não resisti a contextualizar com um excerto do guião do filme:

[...] The walls are lined with class pictures: dating back into the 1800s. School trophies of every description fill trophy cases and shelves. Keating leads the students in, then faces the class.
KEATING Mister... (Keating looks at his roll) Pitts. An unfortunate name. Stand up, Mister Pitts.
Pitts stands.
KEATING Open your text, Pitts, to page forty and read for us the first stanza of the poem.
Pitts looks through his book. He finds the poem.
PITTS To The Virgins to Make Much Of Time?
KEATING That's the one.
Giggles in the class. Pitts reads.
PITTS Gather ye rosebuds while ye may / Old time is still a flying / And this same flower that smiles today / Tomorrow will be dying.
KEATING Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The Latin term for that sentiment is "Carpe Diem." Anyone know what that means?
MEEKS Carpe Diem... seize the day.
KEATING Very good, Mr._?
MEEKS Meeks.
KEATING Seize the day while you're young, see that you make use of your time. Why does the poet write these lines?
A STUDENT Because he's in a hurry?
KEATING Because we're food for worms, lads! Because we're only going to experience a limited number of springs, summers, and falls. One day, hard as it is to believe, each and every one of us is going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die! Stand up and peruse the faces of the boys who attended this school sixty or seventy years ago. Don't be timid, go look at them.
The boys get up. Todd, Neil, Knox, Meeks, etc. go over to the class pictures that line the honor room walls.
ANGLES ON VARIOUS PICTURES ON THE WALLS. Faces of young men stare at us from out of the past.
KEATING They're not that different than any of you, are they? There's hope in their eyes, just like in yours. They believe themselves destined for wonderful things, just like many of you. Well, where are those smiles now, boys? What of that hope?
THE BOYS are staring at the pictures, sobered by what Keating is saying.
KEATING Did most of them not wait until it was too late before making their lives into even one iota of what they were capable? In chasing the almighty deity of success did they not squander their boyhood dreams? Most of those gentlemen are fertilizing daffodils! However, if you get very close, boys, you can hear them whisper. Go ahead, lean in. near it? (loud whisper) 'Carpe Diem, lads. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.

Tom Schulman

John Waterhouse, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May


ToVirgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And, while ye may, go marry;
For, having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.

Robert Herrick
.

Nuno Júdice (1949)


Ausência

Quero dizer-te uma coisa simples: a tua
ausência dói-me. Refiro-me a essa dor que não
magoa, que se limita à alma; mas que não deixa,
por isso, de deixar alguns sinais – um peso
nos olhos, no lugar da tua imagem, e
um vazio nas mãos, como se as tuas mãos lhes
tivessem roubado o tacto. São estas as formas
do amor, podia dizer-te; e acrescentar que
as coisas simples também podem ser
complicadas, quando nos damos conta da
diferença entre o sonho e a realidade. Porém,
é o sonho que me traz a tua memória; e a
realidade aproxima-me de ti, agora que
os dias correm mais depressa, e as palavras
ficam presas numa refracção de instantes,
quando a tua voz me chama de dentro de
mim – e me faz responder-te uma coisa simples,
como dizer que a tua ausência me dói.

Nuno Júdice, Pedro, Lembrando Inês
.

quando nasci. esperava que a vida.
me trouxesse. a terra. quando nasci.
esperava que a vida. me trouxesse.
as árvores. e os pássaros. e as crianças.
quando nasci. tinha o mundo. todo.
depois dos olhos. depois dos dedos.
e não percebi. não percebi. nada.
nunca imaginei. quando nasci. que a vida.
quando nasci. já era a escuridão. a escuridão.
em que estava. quando nasci.


José Luís Peixoto, A Criança em Ruínas
.

Porque, apesar dos abris, muita coisa ainda faz falta...

animar:
do Lat. animare

v. tr.,
dar alma, vida, movimento, coragem, entusiasmo;
dar vivacidade;
desenvolver;

v. refl.,
cobrar alento;
resolver-se;
decidir-se.

O que faz falta

Quando a corja topa da janela
O que faz falta
Quando o pão que comes sabe a merda
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é avisar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é avisar a malta
O que faz falta

Quando nunca a noite foi dormida
O que faz falta
Quando a raiva nunca foi vencida
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é animar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é acordar a malta
O que faz falta

Quando nunca a infância teve infância
O que faz falta
Quando sabes que vai haver dança
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é animar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é empurrar a malta
O que faz falta

Quando um cão te morde na canela
O que faz falta
Quando à esquina há sempre uma cabeça
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é animar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é empurrar a malta
O que faz falta

Quando um homem dorme na valeta
O que faz falta
Quando dizem que isto é tudo treta
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é agitar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é libertar a malta
O que faz falta

Se o patrão não vai com duas loas
O que faz falta
Se o fascista conspira na sombra
O que faz falta

O que faz falta é avisar a malta
O que faz falta
O que faz falta é dar poder a malta
O que faz falta

José Afonso
.

WATCHING THE WHEELS

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing,
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin,
When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange,
Surely your not happy now you no longer play the game,

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away,
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me,
When I tell that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall,
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go,

People asking questions lost in confusion,
Well I tell them there's no problem,
Only solutions,
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind,
I tell them there's no hurry... I'm just sitting here doing time,

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go.

John Lennon
.

Hoje, é o dia mundial dele...