Aguas de Marco

I once asked my Brazilian students to translate my favorite Bossa Nova song into English. And when they came back the next day I was just so thrilled to see that it was more or less exactly the poetry I’d always thought it was:

A stick, a stone
It’s the end of the road
It’s the rest of a stump
It’s a little alone

A snake, a stick
It is John, it is Joe
It’s a thorn in your hand
And a cut in your toe

A point, a grain
A bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard
A sudden stroke of night

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