Exile and Death in José Craveirinha's Later Poetry

Exile and Death in José Craveirinha's Later Poetry

trans. by Luís Rafael Mitras

Babalaze das Hienas (1992, Hangover of the Hyenas) and Maria (1998), the last two books of poetry written by José Craveirinha (1922–2003) to be published during lifetime, both deal with the theme of death, although from different perspectives. Apart from these two works, there is also an earlier edition of Maria (1988), which contains 47 poems, in contrast to the 199 published in the 1998 edition. Craveirinha's earlier collections, Xigubo (1980), first published in 1964 with the title Chigubo (both spellings are of a word derived from a term that designates a warrior dance of Mozambique's Ronga ethnic group), Cela1 (1980; Cell 1), and Karingana ua Karingana (1982), the title being a Ronga expression equivalent to "once upon a time," contain poems, written during the colonial period but republished or published for the first time after independence. Although he composed many poems before and after independence, Craveirinha was not always anxious to have his works published. But Craveirinha has left us with Babalaze das Hienas and Maria as the fruits of his labor in the postcolonial period, although we know that he left many unpublished poems and prose works.

Most of the poems under consideration in the present article share a similar formal structure. They are short, epigrammatic poems, many of which resemble inscriptions that might appear on tombstone, perhaps as a consequence of recent deaths. In the case of Maria, the death, in 1979, of José Craveirinha's wife is indeed the work's prevailing theme, and the loss of life that resulted from the postcolonial civil war are recalled in many of the poems brought together in Babalaze das Hienas

Upon reading these collections of poems, it occurs to me that the two works seem to dialogue with each other and that despite their many differences they have much in common. For that reason I opt to analyze them jointly, starting with the titles of individual poems. Among such interchangeable titles are, for example, "Enviuvados" (Widowed), in Babalaze das Hienas, and such titles, referring to conflict and the personification of animals, as "Nó Górdio" (Gordian Knot), "Rafeiros" (Street Dogs), "Hienas e Lanhos" (Hyenas and Gashes), brought together in Maria, there are two different poems, but with the same title, "De Profundis"(From the Depths), one in Maria and the other in Babalaze das Hienas). This titular duality confirms the supposition that there is an intimate dialogue between two different thematic explorations of death—the personal one and the collective one. Quoted first is the "De Profundis" in Maria followed by the one published in Babalaze das Hienas:

Extenso dia taciturno de nuvens. Nas ramadas passarinhos de Mágoa Lacrimejando chilros, Um braçado Perfumando De profundis De coroas.	Possessos de sangue Em abrenúncios De gritos Ao rosnar Da súcia Em de produndis de facas.
Tão duro Assim lacónico Nosso adeus de rosas, Maria.	An extended cloudy taciturn day. On the boughs small birds with sorrow Warbling tearfully. A perfumed
Armful From the depths Of crowns.	Possessed by blood With cries of God forbid
So hard Thus terse Our farewell of roses, Maria.	In the snarls Of the rabble In a de profundis of dagger.
(53)	(24)

"De Profundis," the opening words of the Vulgate version of Psalm 130—"From the depths I call to you, Yahweh"—is ironically used in the poem in Babalazedas Hienas to signify the almost animalistic pleasure (In the snarls / Of the rabble) that the armed bandits derived from the act of massacring, and the phrase foretells the act of burying knife blades deep into victims' bodies. The image of blood shed and the cries of the terrorized contribute to the portrayal of the perverse, animal-like, and vampiric nature of rebels who indulge neither in speech nor song...