Magic words from Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Source: Donatas Dabravolskas, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In honor of what would have been Drummond’s 122nd birthday (and on this magic holiday of sorts), I offer a translation of his poem “A Palavra Mágica” from his 1945 poetry collection “A Rosa do Povo” (“The People’s Rose”). In this love song to the mystical power of words, Drummond uses the word “senha” which these days is most often translated as “password.” However here I have chosen to honor the mid-20th century context of the poem by using “passcode” - although I was tempted to use “shibboleth.” Also, I started out using “look for” instead of “seek” but in the end I liked the archaic, almost incantatory sound of “seek” especially when paired with “shall.” Hopefully I haven’t messed with Drummond’s famous prosaic simplicity.

“A Palavra Mágica”
Certa palavra dorme na sombra
de um livro raro.
Como desencantá-la?
É a senha da vida
a senha do mundo.
Vou procurá-la.

Vou procurá-la a vida inteira
no mundo todo.
Se tarda o encontro, se não a encontro,
não desanimo,
procuro sempre.

Procuro sempre, e minha procura
ficará sendo
minha palavra.

“The Magic Word”
A certain word sleeps in the shadow
of a rare book.
How to disenchant it?
It’s the passcode of life
the passcode of the world.
I shall seek it.

I shall seek it my whole life
in the whole world
If I am slow to find it, if I don’t find it,
I shan’t lose heart
I shall seek always.

I shall always seek, and my search
will end up being
my word.