POEMAS | Poems
Edições de Goa,1556
Vimala Devi is a Goan poet and short-story writer who wrote in Portuguese, portraying Goan life, culture and memory with sensitivity, most notably in the poetry collection Súria. She was born in 1932 (real name Teresa da Piedade de Baptista Almeida). The Goan-born writer in Portuguese moved to Lisbon in 1957 and later lived in several European cities, eventually settling in Barcelona, where she continued her literary work.
D. A. Smith is a Texas-based translator who renders Portuguese-language works into English, helping introduce Lusophone literature and historical texts to wider international readers through careful, accessible translation. He has translated three prominent Goan works from Portuguese — The Sign of Wrath (Orlando Costa), Sita Valles (Leonor Figueiredo) and Avante, Goeses, Avante (Laxmanrao Sardessai).

The publication of this book constitutes an event of paramount importance for the perpetuation of one of the best poetic works of Goan literature in the Portuguese language. The English language version of Súria by Vimala Devi represents the possibility of its circulation on a global scale, promoting the reading of a work whose quality is preserved in the precise and expressive translation by David Addison (D. A.) Smith. Those who can read in both languages will find out how much Smith's English version lives up to the Portuguese original. — Helder Garmes, professor of Portuguese Literature at the University of São Paulo and researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil.

Contents
Vimala Devi, vida e obra em movimento. Helder Garmes 7
Vimala Devi, Life and Work in Motion. Helder Garmes 35
Translator’s Note. D.A. Smith 63
Chamdrîm 68
Chamdrîm 69
Vénus Drávidas 70
Dravidian Venuses 71
Ternura 72
Tenderness 73
Agora 74
Nowadays 75
Não me fales com essa tua voz 76
Don’t Talk to Me With That Voice of Yours 77
Sou feita de vento 78
I Am Made of Wind 79
Tentação 80
Temptation 81
Dispersão 82
Dispersion 83
Convite 84
Invitation 85
Anga Than Goean 86
Recordação de Goa 86
Memory of Goa 87
Só Gosto 88
I Only Like 89
Goa 90
Goa 91
Hoje 92
Today 93
Tu fazes que eu ame esta vida 94
You Make Me Love This Life 95
Tua boca faminta 96
Your Starving Mouth 97
Regresso 98
Return 99
No leito de morte 102
On Their Deathbeds 103
Iogui 104
Yogi 105
Insolúvel na noite 106
Unsolvable at Night 107
Que carícias de gelo 108
Icy caresses 109
Morte do jovem 110
The Young Man’s Death 111
Domingo amarelo 112
Yellow Sunday 113
Lagn 114
Lagn 115
Morte do Fred 116
Death of Fred 117
Se eu pudesse guardar 118
5If I Could Keep 119
Indefesa 120
Defenseless 121
Enterro dos mitos 122
Burying The Myths 123
Mistério 124
Mystery 125
Notas 126
Notes 127