fernando pessoa, but not exactly (part ii)

Let's fulfil what we are. / Nothing more are we given

what i found the most interesting in ricardo reis' poems was the matter of one's identity. he doesn't ask about what we are, he answers this question unasked like it's a truth that has been given to him without the strain of existential crisis. reis is very concise, he says exactly what he thinks, and doesn't search for the depth that may or may not exist. for him, it doesn't. for caeiro this profoundness didn't exist as well, but reis' aesthetic is more neutral in its tone, more down-to-earth. i'm unable to properly verbalize it, i suggest reading a few of his, and caeiro's poems, to experience this difference yourself.

You'll become only who you always were.
What the gods give they give at the start.
Only once does Fate give you
Your fate, for you're but one.
Little is attained by the effort you exert
In accord with your native ability.
Little, if you were not
Conceived for more.
Be glad to be who you cannot resist
Being. You will still have the vast
Sky to cover you, and the earth,
Green or dry, given the season.

(12 may 1921)

so ricardo basically says that we cannot be more than we already are. you are who you are, and that's it. first reaction to such news might be concern, but it's unnecessary. this is not a flaw, this is not some kind of doom, this is quite the opposite. thanks to being nothing more than we are, we can unapologeticaly, freely live. universe is indifferent about “how much” we are; the sky, the earth -- it is as much for you as it is for anyone else, no matter what Fate gave you at the beginning. 

if it was caeiro writing those verses, we could feel more optimism radiating from them, the tone would be more celebrating-like. it doesn't undermine reis' approach though. 

time matter (again)

another subject in common reis has with caeiro is time. in different manner (again), but they agree (again).

Don't try to build in the space you suppose
Is future, Lydia, and don't promise yourself
Tomorrow. Quit hoping and be who you are
Today. You alone are your life.
Don't plot your destiny, for you are not future. [...]

(1923?)

we may argue that he doesn't say much more than he already did in the previous poem, this time he added time context into this equation. later he writes:

[...] Tomorrow doesn't exist. This moment
Alone is mine, and I am only who
Exists in this instant, which might be the last
Of the self I pretend to be.

(16 march 1933)

reis is aware that no moment different from the current one is given. i am who i am right now, and that is all i have, that is all i am. he doesn't dream, imagine, or mentally escape anywhere, and at the same time he doesn't indulge in any misery that many find in reality. it is perhaps due to the fact that he sees no reason for misery. he accepts because it is his nature to accept (caeiro's words) whatever he found in this world.

very interesting thing happens in the last verse where i believe reis' mask slips for a moment and pessoa's face is revealed. it would make more sense to be that, rather than taking this verse as entirely reis'; i think it would be out of line with his beliefs. I am only who / Exists in this instant is in agreement to what reis wrote in the first poem mentioned here. however, the part that follows which might be the last / Of the self I pretend to be is for me a clear contradiction. reis believed in his theory expressed in [You'll become only who you always were.], and any mystification had no place whatsoever in his world. of course people are inconsistent, especially poets, especially when twelve years divide the works, but! this is the only inconsequentiality i found in reis' poetry, therefore i find it quite suspicious.