The Oblique Light

She was reclining on the night
glancing at broom shrubs and one of those blocks
of masonry that lead to the soul

there was a clear sense of nothing else existing
she said

Vermeer
the painter
would have liked to see it

he would fly through the oblique light
and from that shadow invent the night
the ancient river absorbed.

(Luís Carmelo. Transl.: Bernardo Palmeirim)