The NaPoWriMo prompt is similar to one I’ve seen before and not wanted to try, using the look of the words in an unknown foreign- language poem to inspire one in a language we do know. I had a go this time, because the example given used a poem in Portuguese. I don’t know Portuguese, but being a Latin-based language, many of the words look familiar, so there was something to hang a poem on.

The poem I used is Anel de Chamas by Ana Marques Gastão. It is posted with an English translation which I didn’t read.

Roses

Nights, we sleep, you a rose, sulphur-flamed,
bitter-tasting in the golden darkness, that glitters
with the star-sharp steel of your eyes.

Roses give, bud, open, fall in scented petals with no remorse.
You keep, hoard, lock away, and even a lover,
must settle for the image you toss carelessly into the…