" I Do Not Sing Because I Dream

I do not sing because I dream.
I simply sing because you’re real.
I sing your ripened gaze,
your purest smile,
your animal grace.

I sing because I am a man.
And if I didn’t sing I’d be
just a brute, bursting with health, blind
drunk and dizzy with delight
there in your vineyard without wine.

I sing because love wishes it.
Because hay ripens
in your arms, glistening wet.
Because my body tightens
facing them, bare and bathed in sweat.

"

― Eugénio de Andrade , Forbidden Words: Selected Poetry