José Capiano, A Forja, 1962dez

José Capiano

And now, José?

The year is over.

You did not pass,

Your father got angry

and now, José?

and now, you?

you who are nameless,

who mocks others

you who takes exams,

takes tests, orals?

and now, José?

You are without a woman,

you are without a speech,

you are without affection.

you can no longer drink,

you can no longer smoke,

spitting you can no longer do,

the night has grown cold.

the grade did not come,

the day did not come,

the laughter did not come,

utopia did not come (10)

and everything ended

and everything fled

and you did not pass,

and now, José?

And now, José?

Your sweet word

Your instant of fever

Your grades and hopes

your library.

your books and notebooks,

your CAp suit.

your incoherence,

your study – and now?

With the pencil in hand

you want to take the exam

there is no exam anymore

You want to take an oral

but the oral is over;

you want to go to class

there is no class anymore,

José, and now?

If you studied,

If you sacrificed yourself

If you shouted

If you did not get tired

If you died

But you do not die.

you are tough, José.

Alone in the world

like a wild animal,

Without a bare wall

to lean against

without a black horse

to flee at a gallop

without a diploma in hand,

you march, José.

José, where to?

To “Monte Sinai”

P.S. - Tribute to the classmates who transferred to Instituto Monte Sinai.

Context:

Text parodying the poem “And now José, by Carlos Drumond de Andrade”, published in the newspaper A Forja, of the Student Guild of the Colégio de Aplicação of the National Faculty of Philosophy of UFRJ (former University of Brazil), also known as “CAp, or the Aplicação da Lagoa”, in Rio de Janeiro, in Dec 1962. The author was finishing there the then 4th year of junior high school and moving on to high school. The school’s students could only “repeat” once; the second time they had to leave the school. Besides that, it was very “demanding” and there were many who did not pass to the following year because they did not make the minimum score required for it. This led them to look for other schools, known as paid-passed, aiming not to “lose” a year “repeating”. The so-called Monte Sinai school became noted for this reputation.

Miguel Fernández y Fernández, engineer, chronicler and columnist, member of the National Academy of Engineering and of the Institute of Engineering # written in Dec 1962 R2026 Jan Ra, 1,654 characters