Alberto Caeiro: "The Herdsman"

I'm herdsman of a flock.
The sheep are my thoughts
And my thoughts are all sensations.
I think with my eyes and my ears
And my hands and feet
And nostrils and mouth.

To think a flower is to see and smell it.
To eat a fruit is to sense its savor.

And that is why, when I feel sad,
In a day of heat, because of so much joy
And lay me down in the grass to rest
And close my sun-warmed eyes,
I feel my whole body relaxed in reality
And know the whole truth and am happy.

"The Herdsman" by Alberto Caeiro (Fernando Pessoa), from Poetry (October, 1955). Translated by Edouard Roditi.

Photography credit: "Young Shepherd Sleeping," by Armineh Johannes, 1992 (originally color).