The poem translated from the original Portuguese is attributed to a Brazilian poet, Mario de Andrade, although there is some doubt if he was the author as there is indeed regarding the title of the poem, “My Soul has a Hat”
“I counted my years and realized that I have less time to live by than I have lived so far.
I feel like a child who won a pack of candies. At first, he ate them with pleasure, but when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.
I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures, and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be done.
I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up.
My time is too short: I want the essence. My spirit is in a hurry. I do not have much candy in the package anymore.
I want to live next to humans, very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumphs and who take responsibility for their actions. In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty.
It is the essentials that make life useful. I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch the hearts of those whom hard strokes of life have learned to grow with sweet touches of the soul.
Yes, I’m in a hurry. I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.
I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts. I am sure they will be exquisite, much more than those eaten so far.
My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.
We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you have only one”.
In my eighth decade, I am of an age when one of necessity must accept that one’s time is limited and that the children of today will live on long after one has gone.
The poem, sent to me by a classmate from Medical School similarly in his seventies, struck a chord not only in its penetrating wisdom but particularly with the reference to “endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures, and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be done”. Is this not the lament of so many public servants? I like the poet wish to live next to “very realistic people who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their own triumphs and who take responsibility for their actions. In this way, human dignity is defended and we live in truth and honesty”. Is this not the essence of accountability about which I have written recently?
As a senior public servant of many years and now for the past 6 years a management consultant, I am left wondering how much of my life and the lives of others have been consumed by activities such as this? How many people have we tolerated who were inflated by their own triumphs and who did not take responsibility for their actions? How much better would the world have been had this not been the case?
I am concerned that those who have and will come after me, will continue to do the same.
I can only live my second life now to the best of my ability but learn from my experiences of the first.
I too like the poet seek to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.
My hope is that some others may do the same.
One Comment
bibi goss-ross
Excellent article! love your wisdom – thank you for sharing.