By RODRIGO DE FARIA*
carnival poem
Today is Carnival Tuesday
Of a February without revelry
Of a joyless people
From a country ravaged by the pandemic
Today is Carnival Tuesday
From a February without singing
Of a people without harmony
From a country destroyed by hypocrisy
Today is Carnival Tuesday
Of a February without fantasy
From a people without empathy
From a country that looks like an anomaly
Today is Carnival Tuesday
Of a February without cuíca
Of a people without vaccine
From a country without a government
Today is Carnival Tuesday
From a February without oxygen
Of a people without books
From a meaningless country
Today is Carnival Tuesday
Didn't Trio Elétrico lead the crowd in Praça Castro Alves?
Did Galo da Madrugada not reign over Capiberibe?
Didn't Estação Primeira echo Surdo Um in Sapucaí?
Tomorrow will be Ash Wednesday
From a February with 240 dead
Of an abandoned people
From a militarized country
But today is still Carnival Tuesday
E despite you tomorrow will be another day...
And another Ash Wednesday
Potato Bacalhau will bury our pain on the slopes of Olinda and Brazil
*Rodrigo Faria is a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Brasília (FAU-UnB).