Livros [English translation]

You tripped over stars, clumsy

We had so few books at home

And there was no bookstore in town

But the books that entered our life

Are like black body radiation

Pointing to the expansion of the universe

Because, sentences, concepts, plots, poetry

(And for sure, especially poetry)

Is what can launch worlds in the world

You tripped over stars, clumsy

Unaware that the fortune and the misfortune

Of this road that goes from nowhere to nowhere

Are books and the moonlight on culture1

Books are transcendent objects

But we can love them with the tactile love

That we dedicate to cigarette packs

Tame them, cultivate them in fish tanks

In bookshelves, birdcages, fires

Or throw them out of the window

(Maybe this will spare us from throwing ourselves)

Or what is much worse, for hating ourselves

We could simply write one

Fill with vain words many pages

And make a bigger mess in the shelves

You tripped on stars, clumsy

But for me, you were the star among the stars

1. "On culture" is a wordplay, it sounds like "counterculture"

• Artist:Caetano Veloso
• Album:Caetano Veloso