"The Portuguese Foundation"
O tempo passa veloz,
(Assim se houve dizer)
Bem-haja quem entre nós
Passe tempo a bem-fazer...
Despretensiosos e confiantes,
Um grupo se organizou,
E em prol de nossos estudantes
A "Portuguese Foundation" criou
Ao elenco fundador
Novos membros se têm juntado,
Trabalhando com amor
Bons frutos têm alcançado.
Fora a bem da mocidade,
Optando pela instrução,
Que aos filhos da comunidade
A "Foundation"deu a mão.
Senhoras e cavalheiros,
Nossos queridos conterrâneos,
Tendes sido bons obreiros
Através de vinte anos!
Bem-haja por bem-fazer
É um conceito geral,
Pelas letras se há-de erguer
O nome de Portugal.
Parabéns aos benfeitores
E aos dignos recipientes,
E que a graça do Senhor
Esteja convosco p'ra sempre.
-MLS
A Tribute to the Land of Explorers
But gradually as we sailed
our native mountains disappeared from sight
As we left behind our Tagus and the cools hills
Of Sintra, and our eyes looked longingly upon them;
We also left our beloved land
The heart, that sorrow left there
And, soon after it all was gone,
Finally, we saw nothing but sky and sea.
Thus we were launched upon the seas
Where no generation had set sail,
The new Islands coming and new airs
That generous Henry discovered,
The Mountains and places of Mauritania,
A land possessed, in times, by Antaeus
That lies to our left, there to our right
Another is uncertain but suspected.
Os Lusíadas, Canto V, 3 e 4
Luis Vaz de Camões
Little is known of his turbulent life. He is considered the major figure in Portuguese writing. Author of the epic Os
Lusíadas (The Lusiads). Poet and playwright. His presence has influenced the whole of Portuguese literary
production.
«Camões acknowledged and reflected on the experience of a whole civilisation whose contradictions he felt within
himself and sought to overcome through artistic creation»
From http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/
