I know that the man washed his hair as if it were long (poem) - Daniel Faria - Portugal

Sei que o homem lavava os cabelos como se fossem longos
Porque tinha uma mulher no pensamento
Sei que os lavava como se os contasse

Sei que os enxugava com a luz da mulher
Com os seus olhos muito claros voltados para o centro
Do amor, na operação poderosa
Do amor

Sei que cortava os cabelos para procurá-la
Sei que a mulher ia perdendo os vestidos cortados

Era um homem imaginado no coração da mulher que lavava
O cabelo no seu sangue

Na água corrente

Era um homem inclinado como o pescador nas margens para ouvir
E a mulher cantava para o homem respirar

I know that the man washed his hair as if it were long
Because he had a woman on his mind
I know that he washed it as if counting the strands

I know that he dried it with that woman’s light
With his very clear eyes fixed on the centre
Of love, in the powerful transaction
Of love

I know that he cut his hair to look for her
I know that the woman gradually lost her cut-up clothes

It was a man visualised in the heart of the woman who washed
His hair in her blood

In the running water

It was a man leaning like the fisherman on the banks to listen
And the woman sang so that the man could breathe