Luz e (ah!) escuridão

The attempt at introspective analysis […] is in fact
like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or
trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how
the darkness looks.
William James

Eu estava farto de luz. Todos os países que
percorrera, todos os cenários que contemplava,
inundava-os a luz do dia, e, à noite, a das estrelas.
Ah!, que impressão enervante me causava essa luz
eterna, essa luz enfadonha, sempre a mesma, sempre
tirando o mistério às coisas... Assim parti para uma
terra ignorada, perdida em um mundo extra-real
onde as cidades e as florestas existem
perpetuamente mergulhadas na mais densa treva ...
Não há palavras que traduzam a beleza que
experimentei nessa região singular. Porque eu via as
trevas. A sua inteligência não concebe isto, decerto,
nem a de ninguém ...
Mario de Sá-Carneiro

By day there was nothing, but by night there were
lamps, and George Stransom was in a mood that
made lamps good in themselves. It wasn’t that they
could show him anything, it was only that they could
burn clear.
Henry James

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warningIn the words that it was forming
And the sign said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement hallsAnd whispered in the sounds of silence
Paul Simon

You wanna it darker
We killed the flame.
Leonard Cohen