THE GIRL FROM IPANÊMA
by Vinícius de Moraes

Look at her, see her, a beauty who passes, so full of grace.
See her, a girl going past here, a soft swinging pace,
A sweet side-to-side,
On her way to the sea.

Girl, with your body all golden, all gilded by sunlight
At Ipanêma, with rhythm that’s more than a poem, your sight
Is the prettiest thing that I’ll ever see go by.

Oh, just because I’m so lonely,
Oh, how it all makes me weary,
Oh, if such beauty will make me teary,
It’s because it’s not for me only,
Passing by all alone.

Oh, if she only knew that each step in her pace
Makes the whole world all over swell up full of grace
And spread out with beauty in favor of love.

Translated from the Brazilian Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa
From The Girl from Ipanêma  (Cross-Cultural Communications, 1989)

 

 

Copyright © Adel Gorgy 2014 Photograph Ipanema Girl in Gold and Ebony
Cross-Cultural Communications Art & Poetry Series Broadsides # 72